WILLS AR nS 


it } 


il} 


i 


iii} 
it 
HH 


j K wh 
Hit 


trl tek 


' 
if 


SSS SS see 


SSS 


creep a 
\ cH 


tty 
COUEEUEAEELEETED OU Ca 


ay 
i 
i 
On 

7 

i 


mt 


iN 
fbetere tg ae haslel dant dns ALBDAD ANT: wh 





eS 


iii 
eigenen 


i: 


TH ee 
H NTU tha Bitty 


< z a9 SSS SSS SSE SSS ESS a at og any 
Sletten esise * = 3 = ee me eee ' : == - 2 ores : 





ave e 
hire ape 


' Bey Bh 


am 


Ab 
> oa 
: 


a, 


— 


_——_— 


6 felt 
Pia 
oP oe 
ths 7 


itp 


=P en 


ens ee 


eS 








ey inate ai Rte ge Nee 





i 





= eee 





a hae ated 


THE WESAK VALLEY PRINTED IN U.S.A 








bs ay 
BAA ah AUER 


pri UP 
Ps rt Ap | 
yi 7 7 
i A 
iM 


11 
bat 


AW Wi 


{ { | 
iL ae Pe 
‘ ry a) Acs BY 


: ‘ y 
His 
, 495 

% 


pile ae 


ahs , LY. , es 

Foe Dt be ares 
a sh ; j Aj 
Ry Lap a ; f 

x ‘ 





: et.) 
Aa Gly ! g 
ni 










SR NAY OF PRG 


CL 7; . 
JUL b&b 1925 


a» 
Ci; 
NX v3; PEED erga * 


The Wises and the Path 


By The 


Rihee Gow eadbester 


THEOSOPHICAL PRESS 
826 Oakdale Avenue 
Chicago 


CopyYRIGHT 
Tue AMERICAN THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY 
1925 


CONTENTS 
CHAPTER 
I. Tue EXIstTencre oF THE MAsTeERs 
Il. Tur Puysicau Bopies or THE Masters 
Ill. Tue Way to THE MASTER 
IV. PROBATION 
V. ACCEPTANCE 
VI. OvrueEr PRESENTATIONS 
VIL. Tur First INITIATION 
VIII. Tur Eco 
IX. THE Sreconp anp THIRD INITIATIONS 
X. THe HicgHer INITIATIONS 
XI. THe Work or THE MASTERS 
XII. THr CHOHANS AND THE Rays 
XIII. Tue Trinity anp THE TRIANGLES 
XIV. THE WIspoM IN THE TRIANGLES 


XV. THe POWER IN THE TRIANGLES 


112 
120 
152 
169 
192 
210 
233 
265 
276 
321 


Digitized by the Internet Archive 
in 2022 with funding from 
Princeton Theological Seminary Library 


https://archive.org/details/masterspathOOlead 


Cuapter [| 
THE EXISTENCE OF THE MASTERS 


The existence of Perfected Men is one of the most 
important of the many new facts which Theosophy 
puts before us. It follows logically from the other 
great Theosophical teachings of karma and evolu- 
tion by reincarnation. As we look round us we see 
men obviously at all stages of their evolution—many 
far below ourselves in development, and others who 
in one way or another are distinctly in advance of us. 
Since that is so, there may well be others who are 
very much further advanced; indeed, if men are 
steadily growing better and better through a long 
series of successive lives, tending towards a definite 
goal, there should certainly be some who have already 
reached that goal. Some of us in the process of that 
development have already succeeded in unfolding 
some of those higher senses which are latent in every 
man, and will be the heritage of all in the future; 
and by means of those senses we are enabled to see 
the ladder of evolution extending far above us as well 
as far below us; and we can also see that there are 
men standing upon every rung of that ladder. 
There is a considerable amount of direct testimony 
as to the existence of these Perfected Men whom we 


9 Tue MASTERS AND THE PatTH 


call Masters, but I think that the first step which 
each one of us should take is to make certain that 
there must be such men; only as a later step will it 
follow that those with whom we have come into con- 
tact belong to that class. 

The historical records of every nation are full of 
the doings of men of genius in all the different depart- 
ments of human activity, men who in their special 
lines of work and ability have stood far above the 
rest—indeed, so far that at times (and probably more 
often than we know) their ideals were utterly beyond 
the comprehension of the people, so that not only the 
work that they may have done has been lost to man- 
kind, but their very names even have not been pre- 
served. It has been said that the history of every 
nation could be written in the biography of a few indi- 
viduals, and that it is always the few, towering above 
the rest, who initiate the great forward steps in art, 
music, literature, science, philosophy, philanthropy, 
statecraft and religion. They stand high sometimes 
in love of God and their fellow-men, as great saints 
and philanthropists; sometimes in understanding of 
man and nature, as great philosophers, sages and 
scientists; sometimes in work for humanity as great 
liberators and reformers. Looking at these men, and 
realizing how high they stand among humanity, how 
far they have gone in human evolution, is it not 
logical to say that we cannot see the bounds of 
human attainment, and that there may well have 
been, and even now may be, men far further devel- 


Tue EXIsTeNCE OF THE MASTERS © 3 


oped even than they, men great in spirituality as well 
as in knowledge or artistic power, men complete as 
regards human perfections—men precisely such as the 
Adepts or Supermen whom some of us have had the 
inestimable privilege to encounter? 

This galaxy of human genius that enriches and 
beautifies the pages of history is at the same time the 
glory and the hope of all mankind, for we know that 
these Greater Ones are the forerunners of the rest, 
and that They flash out as beacons, as veritable light- 
bearers to show us the path which we must tread if 
we wish to reach the glory which shall presently be 
revealed. We have long accepted the doctrine of the 
evolution of the forms in which dwells the Divine 
Life; here is the complementary and far greater idea 
of the evolution of that Life itself, showing that the 
very reason for that wondrous development of higher 
and higher forms is that the ever-swelling Life needs 
them in order to express itself. Forms are born and 
die, forms grow, decay and break; but the spirit 
grows on eternally, ensouling those forms, and devel- 
oping by means of experience gained in and through 
them; and as each form has served its turn and is 
outgrown, it is cast aside that another and better 
form may take its place. 

Behind the unfolding form burgeons out ever the 
Life Eternal, the Life Divine. That Life of God per- 
meates the whole of nature, which is but the many- 
colored cloak which He has donned; it is He Who lives 
in the beauty of the flower, in the strength of the tree, 


4 THe MASTERS AND THE PatH 


in the swiftness and grace of the animal as well as 
in the heart and soul of man. It is because His Will 
is evolution that all life everywhere is pressing on- 
ward and upward; and it is therefore that the exist- 
ence of Perfected Men at the end of this long line of 
ever-unfolding power and wisdom and love is the 
most natural thing in the world. Even beyond Them 
—beyond our sight and our comprehension—stretches 
a vista of still greater glory; some hint of that we 
may endeavor to give later, but it is useless to speak 
of it now. 

The logical consequence of all this is that there 
must be Perfected Men, and there are not wanting 
signs of the existence of such men in all ages who, 
instead of leaving the world entirely, to pursue a life 
of their own in the divine or superhuman kingdoms, 
have remained in touch with humanity, through love 
of it, to assist its evolution in beauty and love and 
truth, to help, as it were, to cultivate the Perfect 
Man—just as here and there we find a botanist who 
has special love for plants, and glories in the produc- 
tion of a perfect orange or a perfect rose. 

The records of every great religion show the pres- 
ence of such Supermen so full of the Divine Life that 
again and again They have been taken as the very 
representatives of God Himself. In every religion, 
especially at its founding, has such an One appeared, 
and in many cases more than one. The Hindus have 
their great Avataras or divine incarnations, such as 
Shri Krishna, Shri Shankaracharya, and the Lord 


Tue EXISTENCE OF THE MASTERS 5 


Gautama Buddha, Whose religion has spread over 
the Far East, and a great galaxy of rishis, of saints 
and teachers; and these Great Ones took interest not 
only in awakening men’s spiritual natures, but also 
in all affairs that made for their well-being on earth. 
All who belong to the Christian world know, or ought 
to know, much about the great succession of prophets 
and teachers and saints in their own dispensation, and 
that in some way (perhaps not clearly understood) 
their Supreme Teacher, the Christ Himself, was and 
is Man as well as God. And all the earlier religions 
(decadent as some of them may be amid the decay 
of nations), down even to those of primitive tribes 
of men, show as outstanding features the existence of 
Supermen, helpers in every way of the child-like 
people among whom They dwelt. An enumeration 
of these, interesting and valuable as it is, would take 
us too far aside from our present purpose, so I will 
refer the reader for it to Mr. W. Williamson’s excel- 
lent book, The Great Law. 

There is much direct and recent evidence for the 
existence of these Great Ones. In my earlier days 
I never needed any such evidence, because I was fully 
persuaded as a result of my studies that there must 
be such people. To believe that there were such 
glorified men seemed perfectly natural, and my only 
desire was to meet Them face to face. Yet there 
are many among the newer members of the Society 
who, reasonably enough, want to know what evidence 
there is. There is a considerable amount of personal 


6 Tue MASTERS AND THE PatH 


testimony. Madame Blavatsky and Colonel Olcott, 
the co-founders of the Theosophical Society, Dr. 
Annie Besant, our present President, and I myself— 
all of us have seen some of these Great Ones, and 
many other members of the Society have also been 
privileged to see one or two of Them, and there is 
ample testimony in what all these people have 
written. 

It is sometimes objected that those who saw Them, 
or fancied that they did so, may have been dreaming 
or perhaps deluded. The chief reason, I think, for 
the possibility of such a suggestion is that we have 
very rarely seen the Adepts at a time when both 
They and we were in our physical bodies. In 
the early days of the Society, when only Madame 
Blavatsky had developed higher faculties, the Mas- 
ters not infrequently materialized Themselves so that 
all could see Them, and showed Themselves thus 
physically on various occasions. You will find many 
records of such happenings in the earlier history of 
our Society, but of course the Great One so showing 
Himself was not in His physical body, but in a 
materialized form. 

Many of us habitually and constantly see Them 
during our sleep. We go out in our astral bodies (or 
in the mental body, according to our development) 
and we visit Them and see Them in Their physical 
bodies; but we are not at that time in ours, and that 
is why on the physical plane people tend to be skep- 
tical about such experiences. Men object: “But in 


Tue EXISTENCE OF THE MASTERS 7 


these cases either you who saw Them were out of the 
physical body, and may have been dreaming or de- 
luded, or Those who appeared to you came phenome- 
nally and then disappeared again; so how do you know 
that They were what you suppose Them to be?” 
There are a few cases in which both the Adept and 
the one who saw Him were in the physical body. It 
happened with Madame Blavatsky; I have heard her 
testify that she lived for some time in a monastery in 
Nepal, where she saw three of our Masters constantly 
in Their physical vehicles. Some of Them have come 
down more than once from Their mountain retreats 
into India in Their physical bodies. Colonel :Olcott 
spoke of having seen two of Them on those occasions; 
he had met the Master Morya and also the Master 
Kuthumi. Damodar K. Mavalankar, whom I knew in 
1884, had encountered the Master Kuthumi in His 
physical body. ‘There was the case of 8. Rama- 
swamier, a gentleman whom I knew well in those 
days, who had the experience of meeting the Master 
Morya physically, as you may read in the book Five 
Years of Theosophy, in the article “How a Chela 
Found His Guru”; and there was the case of Mr. W. T. 
Brown of the London Lodge, who also was privileged 
to meet one of the Great Ones under similar condi- 
tions. There is also a vast amount of Indian testi- 
mony which has never been collected and sifted, 
mainly because those to whom these experiences came 
were so thoroughly persuaded of the existence of 
Supermen and of the possibility of meeting Them 


8 Tue MASTERS AND THE PATH 


that they did not regard any individual case as 
worthy of record. 

I myself can tell you of two occasions on which I 
have met a Master, both of us being in the physical 
vehicle. One of Them was the Adept to Whom the 
name of Jupiter was assigned in the book of the Lives 
of Alcyone, Who greatly assisted in the writing of 
portions of Madame Blavatsky’s famous work, Isis 
Unveiled, when that was being done in Philadelphia 
and New York. When I was living at Adyar He was 
so kind as to request my revered teacher, Swami T. 
Subba Rao, to bring me to call upon Him. Obeying 
His summons we journeyed to His house, and were 
most graciously received by Him. After a long con- 
versation of the deepest interest we had the honor 
of dining with Him, Brahman though He be, and 
spent the night and part of the next day under His 
roof. In that case it will be admitted that there could 
be no question of illusion. The other Adept Whom 
I had the privilege of encountering physically was the 
Master the Comte de St. Germain, called sometimes 
the Prince Ragoczy. I met Him under quite ordinary 
circumstances (without any previous appointment, 
and as though by chance) walking down the Corso 
in Rome, dressed just as any Italian gentleman might 
be. He took me up into the gardens on the Pincian 
Hill, and we sat for more than an hour talking about 
the Society and its work; or perhaps I should rather 
say that He spoke and I listened, although when He 
asked questions I answered. 


Tue EXISTENCE OF THE MASTERS 9 


Other members of the Brotherhood I have seen 
under varying circumstances. My first encounter 
with one of them was in a hotel in Cairo; I was on 
my way out to India with Madame Blavatsky and 
some others, and we stayed in that city for a time. 
We all used to gather in Madame Blavatsky’s room 
for work, and I was sitting on the floor, cutting out 
and arranging for her a quantity of newspaper articles 
. which she wanted. She sat at a table close by; indeed 
my left arm was actually touching her dress. The 
door of the room was in full sight, and it certainly 
did not open; but quite suddenly, without any prep- 
aration, there was a man standing almost between me 
and Madame Blavatsky, within touch of both of us. 
It gave me a great start, and I jumped up in some 
confusion; Madame Blavatsky was much amused and 
said: “If you do not know enough not to be startled 
at such a trifle as that, you will not get far in this 
occult work.”’ I was introduced to the visitor, who 
was not then an Adept, but an Arhat, which is one 
grade below that state; He has since become the 
Master Djwal Kul. 

Some months after that the Master Morya came to 
us one day, looking exactly as though in a physical 
body; He walked through the room where I was in 
order to communicate with Madame Blavatsky, who 
was in her bedroom inside. That was the first time 
I had seen Him plainly and clearly, for I had not then 
developed my latent senses sufficiently to remember 
what I saw in the subtle body. I saw the Master 


10 Tue Masters AND THE PATH 


Kuthumi under similar conditions on the roof of our 
Headquarters at Adyar; He was stepping over a bal- 
ustrade as though He had just materialized from the 
empty air on the other side of it. I have also many 
times seen the Master Djwal Kul on that roof in the 
same way. 

This would, I suppose, be considered less certain 
evidence, since the Adepts came as apparitions do; 
but, as I have since learned to use my higher vehicles 
freely, and to visit These Great Ones in that way, I 
can testify that Those Who in the early years of the 
Society came and materialized for us are the same 
Men Whom I have often since seen living in Their 
own homes. People have suggested that I and others 
who have the same experience may be but dreaming, 
since these visits take place during the sleep of the 
body; I can only reply that it is a remarkably con- 
sistent dream, extending in my own case over forty 
years, and that it has been dreamt simultaneously by 
a large number of people. 

Those who wish to collect evidence about these 
matters (and it is quite reasonable that they should 
wish to do so) should turn to the earlier literature 
of the Society. If they meet our President, they can 
hear from her how many of the Great Ones she has 
seen on different occasions; and there are many of 
our members who will bear witness without hesitation 
that they have seen a Master. It may be that in 
meditation they have seen His face, and later have 
had definite proof that He is a real being. Much 


Tue EXISTENCE OF THE MASTERS 11 


evidence may be found in Colonel Olcott’s Old Diary 
Leaves, and there is an interesting treatise called Do 
The Brothers Exist? written by Mr. A. O. Hume, a 
man who stood high in the Civil Service in India, and 
worked much with our late Vice President, Mr. A. P. 
Sinnett. It was published in a book entitled Hints 
on Esoteric Theosophy. Mr. Hume, who was a 
skeptical Anglo-Indian with a legal mind, went 
into the question of the existence of the Brothers 
(as the Masters are also called, because They 
belong to a great Brotherhood, and also because 
They are the Elder Brothers of humanity) and 
even at that early date decided that he had 
overwhelming testimony that They did exist; and 
very much more evidence has accumulated since 
that book was published. 

The possession of extended vision and other facul- 
ties resulting from the development of our latent 
powers has also brought within our constant experi- 
ence the fact that there are other orders of beings 
than the human, some of whom rank alongside the 
Adepts in a grade of being higher than our own. We 
meet with some whom we call Devas or Angels, and 
with Others Whom we see to be far beyond ourselves 
in every respect. 

Since in the course of our development we have 
become able to communicate with the Adepts, we 
have naturally asked Them with all reverence how 
They have attained to that level. They tell us with 
one accord that no long time ago They stood where 


12 THe MASTERS AND THE PatTH 


we stand now. They have risen out of the ranks of 
ordinary humanity, and They have told us that we 
in time to come shall be as They are now, and that 
the whole system is a graded evolution of life ex- 
tending up and up, further than we can follow it, even 
unto the Godhead Itself. 

We find that as there are definite stages in the 
earlier evolution—the vegetable above the mineral, 
the animal above the vegetable and the human above 
the animal—so in the same way the human kingdom 
has a definite end, a boundary at which it passes into 
a kingdom distinctly higher than itself, that beyond 
men there are the Supermen. 

In the study of this system of evolution, we have 
learned that there are in every man three great divi- 
sions—body, soul and Spirit; and each of these is ca- 
pable of further subdivision. That is the definition 
which was given by Saint Paul two thousand years ago. 
The Spirit or Monad is the breath of God (for the 
word spirit means breath, from the Latin spiro), the 
divine spark which is truly the Man, though it may 
more accurately be described as hovering over man 
as we know him. The scheme of its evolution is that 
it should descend into matter, and through its descent 
obtain definiteness and accuracy in material detail. 
So far as we are able to see, this Monad, which is a 
spark of the Divine Fire, cannot descend as far as our 
present level, cannot directly reach this physical 
plane in which we are now thinking and working— 
probably because the rates of its vibration and those 


Tue EXISTENCE OF THE MASTERS 13 


of physical matter differ too widely, so that there 
must be intermediate states and conditions. On what 
plane of nature that divine spark originally exists 
we do not know, for it is far above, out of our reach. 
The lowest manifestation of it, which might be called 
a reflection of it, descends into the lowest of the Cos- 
mic Planes, as described in A Textbook of Theosophy. 

We speak commonly of seven planes of existence, 
_ which are subdivisions or subplanes of the lowest 
Cosmic Plane, called in our books the Prakritic, 
meaning the physical plane of the Cosmos. The 
Monad can descend to the second of these subplanes 
(which we consequently call the Monadic plane) but 
it does not seem able to penetrate lower than this. 
In order to obtain the necessary contact with still 
denser matter, it puts down part of itself through 
two whole planes, and that fragment is what we call 
the ego or soul. 

The Divine Spirit far above us merely hovers over 
us; the soul, which is a small and partial representa- 
tion of it (it is as though the Monad puts down a 
finger of fire, and the end of that finger is the soul) 
cannot descend below the higher part of the mental 
plane (which is the fifth plane counting downwards, 
the physical being the seventh and lowest); and, in 
order that it may reach a still lower level, it must in 
turn put down a small portion of itself, which be- 
comes the personality that we know. So this per- 
sonality, which each person commonly thinks to be 
himself, is in truth but the fragment of a fragment. 


14 Tue MAsTers AND THE PatH 


All the evolution through the lower kingdoms is 
preparatory to the development of this human con- 
stitution. An animal during its life on the physical 
plane (and for some time after that in the astral 
world) has a soul just as individual and separate as 
a man’s; but when the animal comes to the end of 
its astral life, that soul does not reincarnate again 
in a single body, but returns to a kind of reservoir 
of soul-matter, called in our books a group soul. It 
is as though the group soul were a bucket of water, 
supplying the need of several animals of the same 
kind—say, for example, twenty horses. When a horse 
is to be born from that group soul, it is as though one 
dipped a vessel into that bucket and brought it out 
full of water. During the life of that horse all kinds 
of experiences come to it which modify its soul, 
from which it learns lessons and these may be com- 
pared to various kinds of coloring matter cast into 
the vessel of water. When the horse dies, the water 
in the vessel is emptied back into the bucket, and 
the coloring matter which it has acquired spreads all 
through the whole bucket. When another horse is 
born from the same group soul, another vessel of 
water is filled from the bucket; but it will be obvious 
that it is impossible to take out in it exactly the same 
drops of water which constituted the soul of the pre- 
vious horse. (For further details of this process see 
A Textbook of Theosophy.) 

When an animal has developed far enough to be- 
come human, that means that at the end of his life his 


Tuer EXISTENCE OF THE MASTERS 15 


soul is not poured back into the group soul but re- 
mains as a separate entity. And now a very curious 
but very beautiful fate befalls him. The soul-matter, 
the water in the vessel, becomes itself a vehicle for 
something much higher, and instead of acting as a 
- soul, it is itself ensouled. We have no exact analogy 
on the physical plane, unless we think of pumping air 
into water under high pressure, and thereby mak- 
_ ing it aerated water. If we accept that symbolism, 
the water which was previously the animal soul has 
now become the causal body of a man; and the air 
pumped into it is the ego of which I have spoken— 
that soul of man which is but a partial manifestation 
of the Divine Spirit. This descent of the ego is sym- 
bolized in ancient mythology by the Greek idea of 
the crater or Cup and by the medieval story of the 
Holy Grail; for the Grail or the Cup is the perfected. 
result of all that lower evolution, into which is poured 
the Wine of the Divine Life, so that the soul of man 
may be born. So, as we have said, this which has 
previously been the animal soul becomes in the case 
of man what is called the causal body, which exists 
in the higher part of the mental plane as the perma- 
nent vehicle occupied by the ego or human soul; and 
all that has been learned in its evolution is trans- 
ferred to this new center of life. 

The evolution of this soul consists in its gradual 
return to the higher level on the plane next below the 
Monadic, carrying with it the result of its descent in 
the shape of experiences gained and qualities acquired. 


16 Tue MASTERS AND THE PatH 


The physical body in all of us is fully developed, and 
because that is so we are supposed to have conquered 
it; but it should be fully under the control of the soul. 
Among the higher races of mankind at the present 
day it usually is so, though it may break away and 
run wild for a little at times. The astral body is also 
fully developed, but it is not yet by any means under 
perfect control; even among the races to which we 
belong, there are many people who are the victims 
of their own emotions. Instead of being able to gov- 
ern them perfectly, they too often allow themselves 
to be governed by them. They let their emotions run 
away with them, just as a wild horse may run away 
with its rider, and take him into many places where 
he does not wish to go. 

We may take it, then, that in all the best men of 
the more advanced races at the present day the phys- 
ical body is fully developed, and fairly under control; 
the astral body is also fully developed, but not by 
any means under perfect control; the mental body is 
in process of unfoldment, but its growth is yet very 
far from complete. They have a long way to go yet 
before these three bodies, the physical, the astral and 
the mental, are entirely subordinate to the soul. 
When that happens the lower self will have been ab- 
sorbed into the higher self, and the ego, the soul, will 
have dominated the man. Though the man is not yet 
perfect, the different vehicles are so far harmonized 
that they have but one aim. 

Up to this time the soul has been slowly controlling 


Tue EXISTENCE OF THE MASTERS 17 


the personal vehicles until they become one with it, 
but now the Monad in his turn begins to dominate 
the soul; and there will presently come a time when, 
just as the personality and the soul have become one, 
the Spirit and the soul will become one in their turn. 
This is the unification of the ego with the Monad; 
and when that is achieved the man has attained the 
object of his descent into matter—he has become the 
Superman, or Adept. 

Now only, for the first time, does he enter upon his 
real life, for the whole of this stupendous process of 
evolution (through all the lower kingdoms and then 
through the human kingdom up to the attainment of 
Adeptship) is but a preparation for that true life of 
the Spirit which begins only when man becomes more 
than man. Humanity is the final class of the world- 
school; and when a man has been trained therein he 
passes out into the real life, the life of the glorified 
Spirit, the life of the Christ. What that is we know 
but little as yet, though we see some of Those who are 
sharing it. It has a glory and a splendor which is 
beyond all comparison, beyond our comprehension; 
and yet it is a vivid and living fact, and the attain- 
ment of it by every one of us is an absolute certainty 
from which we cannot escape even if we would. If 
we act selfishly, if we set ourselves against the cur- 
rent of evolution, we can delay our progress; but we 
cannot finally prevent it. 

Having finished with human life, the Perfected Man 
usually drops His various material bodies, but He 


18 Tue MASTERS AND THE PaTH 


retains the power to take up any of them if ever He 
should need them in course of His work. In the- 
majority of cases, one who gains that level no longer 
needs a physical body. He no longer retains an astral, 
a mental or even a causal body, but lives permanently 
at His highest level. Whenever for any purpose He 
needs to deal with a lower plane, He must take a 
temporary vehicle belonging to that plane, because 
only through the medium of its matter can He come 
in contact with those who live therein. If He wishes 
to talk to men physically, He must take a physical 
body; He must have at least a partial materializa- 
tion, or He cannot speak. In the same way if He 
wishes to impress our minds, He must draw round 
Himself a mental body. Whenever He needs in His 
work to take a lower vehicle, He has the power to do 
so; but He holds it only temporarily. 

There are seven lines of still further progress along 
which the Perfected Man can go, a list of which we 
shall give in a later chapter. The world is guided 
and directed to a large extent by a Brotherhood of 
Adepts to which our Masters belong. Theosophical 
students make all sorts of mistakes about Them. 
They often regard Them as a great monastic com- 
munity, all living together in some secret place. They 
suppose Them sometimes to be Angels, and many of 
our students have thought that They were all Indian, 
or that They all resided in the Himalayas. None of 
these hypotheses is true. There is a great Brother- 
hood, and its Members are in constant communica- 


THE EXISTENCE OF THE MASTERS 19 


tion with one another; but Their communication is 
on higher planes and They do not necessarily live 
together. As part of Their work, some of these great 
Brothers Whom we call Masters of the Wisdom are 
willing to take pupil-apprentices and teach them; but 
They form only a small section of the mighty Body 
of Perfected Men. 

The powers of the Adept are indeed many and won- 
. derful, but they all follow in natural sequence from 
faculties which we ourselves possess. It is only that 
They have these faculties in a very much greater 
degree. I think that the outstanding characteristic 
of the Adept, as compared with ourselves, is that He 
looks upon everything from an absolutely different 
point of view; for there is in Him nothing whatever 
of the thought of self which is so prominent with the 
majority of men. The Adept has eliminated the lower 
self, and is living not for self but for all, and yet, in 
a way that only He can really understand, that all 
is truly Himself also. He has reached that stage in 
which there is no flaw in His character, nothing of a 
thought or feeling for a personal, separated self, and 
His only motive is that of helping forward evolution, 
of working in harmony with the Logos Who directs it. 

Perhaps the next most prominent characteristic is 
His all-round development. We are all of us im- 
perfect; none has attained the highest level in any 
line, and even the great scientist or the great saint 
has usually reached high excellence in one thing only, 
and there remain other sides of his nature not yet 


20 Tue MASTERS AND THE PATH 


unfolded. All of us possess some germ of all the 
different characteristics, but always they are but: 
partially awakened, and one much more than another. 
An Adept, however, is an all-round Man, a Man 
whose devotion and love and sympathy and compas- 
sion are perfect, while at the same time His intellect 
is something far grander than we can as yet realize, 
and His spirituality is wonderful and divine. He 
stands out above and beyond all men whom we know, 
because of the fact that He is fully developed. 


CHAPTER II 
THE PHYSICAL BODIES OF THE MASTERS 


There has been among Theosophical students a 
great deal of vagueness and uncertainty about the 
Masters, so perhaps it may help us to realize how 
natural Their lives are, and how there is an ordinary 
physical side to them, if I say a few words about the 
daily life and appearance of some of Them. There 
is no one physical characteristic by which an Adept 
can be infallibly distinguished from other men, but 
He always appears impressive, noble, dignified, holy 
and serene, and anyone meeting Him could hardly 
fail to recognize that he was in the presence of a 
remarkable man. He is the strong but silent man, 
speaking only when He has a definite object in view, 
to encourage, to help or to warn; yet He is wonder- 
fully benevolent and full of a keen sense of humor— 
humor always of a kindly order, used never to wound, 
but always to lighten the troubles of life. The Mas- 
ter Morya once said that it is impossible to make 
progress on the occult Path without a sense of humor, 
and certainly all the Adepts Whom I have seen have 
possessed that qualification. 

“Most of Them are distinctly fine-looking men; 
Their physical bodies are practically perfect, for 


22 Tue MASTERS AND THE PaTH 


They live in complete obedience to the laws of health, 
and above all They never worry about anything. All 
Their evil karma has long been exhausted, and thus 
the physical body is as perfect an expression of the 
Augoeides or glorified body of the Ego as the limita- 
tions of the physical plane will allow, so that not 
only is the present body of an Adept usually splen- 
didly handsome, but also any new body that He may 
take in a subsequent incarnation is likely to be an 
almost exact reproduction of the old one, allowing for 
racial and family differences, because there is noth- 
ing to modify it. This freedom from karma gives 
Them, when for any reason They choose to take a 
new body, entire liberty to select a birth in any 
country or race that may be convenient for the work 
that They have to do, and thus the nationality of 
the particular bodies which They happen to be wear- 
ing at any given time is not of primary importance. 

To know that a certain man is an Adept it would 
be necessary to see His causal body, for in that His 
development would show by its greatly increased size, 
and by a special arrangement of its colors into con- 
centric spheres, such as is indicated to some extent 
in the illustration of the causal body of an Arhat 
(Plate xxvi) in Man Visible and Invisible. 

Let me here briefly describe a certain valley in 
Tibet where three of these Great Ones, the Master 
Morya, the Master Kuthumi, and the Master Djwal 
Kul are living at the present time. The Masters 
Morya and Kuthumi occupy houses on opposite sides 























Tue Puysicat Bopigs of THE MASTERS Haas 


of a narrow ravine, the slopes of which are covered 
with pine trees, and at the bottom flows a small 
stream. Paths run down the ravine past Their 
houses, and meet at the bottom, where there is a 
little bridge. Close to the bridge a narrow opening 
leads to a system of vast subterranean halls contain- 
ing an occult museum of which the Master Kuthumi 
is the Guardian on behalf of the Great White Brother- 
hood. 

The contents of this museum are of the most varied 
character. They appear to be intended as a kind of 
illustration of the whole process of evolution. For 
example, there are here the most lifelike images of 
every type of man which has existed on this planet 
from the commencement—from gigantic loose-jointed 
Lemurians to pigmy remains of even earlier and less 
human races. Models in alto relievo show all the 
variations of the surface of the earth—the conditions 
before and after the great cataclysms which have 
changed it so much. Huge diagrams illustrate the 
migrations of the different races of the world, and 
show exactly how far they spread from their respec- 
tive sources. Other similar diagrams are devoted to 
the influence of the various religions of the world, 
showing where each was practiced in its original 
purity, and where it became mingled with and dis- 
torted by the remains of other religions. 

' Amazingly lifelike statues perpetuate the physical 
appearance of certain of the great leaders and teachers 
of long-forgotten races; and various objects of interest 


24 Tue MASTERS AND THE PaTH 


connected with important and even unnoticed ad- 
vancements in civilization are preserved for the exam-_ 
ination of posterity. Original manuscripts of incred- 
ible antiquity and of priceless value are here to be seen 
—a manuscript, for example, written by the hand of 
the Lord Buddha Himself in His final life as Prince 
Siddartha, and another written by the Lord Christ 
during His birth in Palestine. Here is kept that mar- 
velous original of the Book of Dzyan, which Madame 
Blavatsky describes in the opening of The Secret 
Doctrine. Here too are strange scripts from other 
worlds than ours. Animal and vegetable forms are 
also depicted, some few of which are known to us as 
fossils, though most of them are unimagined by our 
modern science. Actual models of some of the great 
cities of remote and forgotten antiquity are here for 
the study of the pupils. 

All statues and models are vividly colored exactly 
as were the originals; and we may note that the 
collection here was intentionally put together at the 
time, in order to represent to posterity the exact 
stages through which the evolution or civilization of 
the time was passing, so that instead of mere incom- 
plete fragments, such as our museums so often pre- 
sent to us, we have in all cases an intentionally edu- 
cational series of presentations. There we find models 
of all the kinds of machinery which the different civ- 
ilizations have evolved, and also there are elaborate 
and abundant illustrations of the types of magic in 
use at the various periods of history. 


Tue PuysicaLt Bopigs oF THE MASTERS Zp 


In the vestibule leading to these vast halls are kept 
the living images of those pupils of the Masters 
Morya and Kuthumi who happen at the'time to be 
on probation, which I will describe in the next chap- 
ter. These images are ranged round the walls like 
statues, and are perfect representations of the pupils 
concerned. It is not probable, however, that they 
are visible to physical eyes, for the lowest matter 
_ entering into their composition is etheric. 

Near the bridge there is also a small temple with 
turrets of somewhat Burmese form, to which a few 
villagers go to make offerings of fruit and flowers, 
and to burn camphor and recite the Pancha Sila. A 
rough and uneven track leads down the valley by the 
side of the stream. From either of the two houses 
of the Masters the other house can be seen; they are 
both above the bridge, but it is doubtful whether both 
could be seen from it, since the ravine bends round. 
If we follow the path up the valley past the house of 
the Master Kuthumi it will lead us to a large pillar 
of rock, beyond which, the ravine bending round, it 
passes out of sight. Some distance further on the 
ravine opens out into a plateau on which there is 
a lake, in which, tradition tells us, Madame Blavatsky 
used to bathe; and it is said that she found it very 
cold. The valley is sheltered and faces south, and 
though the surrounding country is under snow during 
the winter, I do not remember having seen any near 
the Masters’ houses. These houses are of stone, very 
heavily and strongly built. 


26 Tue MASTERS AND THE PaTH 


The house of the Master Kuthumi is divided into 
two parts by a passageway running straight through 
it. On entering the passage, the first door on the 
right leads into the principal room of the house, in 
which our Master usually sits. It is large and lofty 
(about fifty feet by thirty feet), in many ways more 
like a hall than a room, and it occupies the whole of 
the front of the house on that side of the passage. 
Behind that large room are two other nearly square 
rooms, one of which He uses as a library, and the 
other as a bedroom. That completes that side or 
division of the house, which is apparently reserved 
for the Master’s personal use, and is surrounded by 
a broad veranda. The other side of the house, on the 
left of the passage as one enters, seems to be divided 
into smaller rooms and offices of various kinds, but 
we have had no opportunity of closely examining 
them. 

The large room is well supplied with windows, both 
along the front and the end—so well that on enter- 
ing one gets the impression of an almost continuous 
outlook; and under the windows runs a long seat. 
There is also a somewhat unusual feature for that 
country, a large open fireplace in the middle of the 
wall opposite the front windows. This is so arranged 
as to heat all three rooms, and it has a curious ham- 
mered iron cover, which I am told is unique in Tibet. 
Over the opening of that fireplace is a mantelpiece, 
and near by stands the Master’s armchair of very old 
carved wood, hollowed to fit the sitter, so that for it 





GROUND PLAN OF THE WESTERN HALF OF THE HOUSE OF 
THE Master KuTHUMI 





THE PHYSICAL Bopies oF THE MASTERS Nee 


no cushions are required. Dotted about the room are 
tables and settees or sofas, mostly without backs, and 
in one corner is the keyboard of the Master’s organ. 
The ceiling is perhaps twenty feet high, and is very 
handsome, with its fine carved beams, which descend 
into ornamental points where they meet one another 
and divide the ceiling into oblong sections. An arched 
opening with a pillar in the center, somewhat in the 
Gothic style, but without glass, opens into the study, 
and a similar window opens into the bedroom. This 
latter room is very simply furnished. There is an 
ordinary bed, swung hammock-like between two 
carved wooden supports fixed in the wall (one of these 
carved to imitate a lion’s head, and the other an ele- 
phant’s), and the bed when not in use folds up against 
the wall. 

The library is a fine room, containing thousands 
of volumes. Running out from the wall there are tall 
book-shelves, filled with books in many languages, 
a number of them being modern European works; and 
at the top there are open shelves for manuscripts. 
The Master is a great linguist, and besides being a 
fine English scholar has a thorough knowledge of 
French and German. The study also contains a type- 
writer, which was presented to the Master by one of 
His pupils. 

Of the Master’s family I know but little. There is 
a lady, evidently a pupil, whom He calls “sister.” 
Whether she is actually His sister or not I do not 
know; she might possibly be a cousin or a niece. 


28 THe MASTERS AND THE PatTH 


She looks much older than He, but that would not 
make the relationship improbable, as He has appeared 
of about the same age for a long time. She resembles 
Him to a certain extent, and once or twice when there 
have been gatherings she has come and joined the 
party; though her principal work seems to be to look 
after the housekeeping and manage the servants. 
Among the latter are an old man and his wife, who 
have been for a long time in the Master’s service. 
They do not know anything of the real dignity of 
their employer, but regard Him as a very indulgent 
and gracious patron, and naturally they benefit 
greatly by being in His service. 

The Master has a large garden of His own. He 
possesses, too, a quantity of land, and employs 
laborers to cultivate it. Near the house there are 
flowering shrubs and masses of flowers growing freely, 
with ferns among them. Through the garden there 
flows a streamlet, which forms a little waterfall, and 
over it a tiny bridge is built. Here He often sits 
when He is sending out streams of thought and bene- 
diction upon His people; it would no doubt appear 
to the casual observer as though He were sitting idly 
watching Nature, and listening heedlessly to the song 
of the birds, and to the splash and tumble of the 
water. Sometimes, too, He sits in His great armchair, 
and when His people see Him thus, they know that 
He must not be disturbed; they do not know exactly 
what He is doing, but suppose Him to be in samadhi. 
The fact that people in the East understand this kind 


Tue PuysicaL Bopigs ofr THE MASTERS 29 


of meditation and respect it may be one of the reasons 
why the Adepts prefer to live there rather than in 
the West. 

In this way we get the effect of the Master sitting - 
quietly for a considerable part of the day and, as we 
should say, meditating; but He has much other 
work besides. He has composed some music, and has 
written notes and papers for various purposes. He 
is also much interested in the growth of physical 
science, although this is especially the province of 
one of the other great Masters of the Wisdom. From 
time to time the Master Kuthumi rides on a big bay 
horse, and occasionally, when Their work lies together, 
He is accompanied by the Master Morya, who always 
rides a magnificent white horse. Our Master regularly 
visits some of the monasteries, and sometimes goes up 
a great pass to a lonely monastery in the hills. Riding 
in the course of His duties seems to be His principal 
exercise, but He sometimes walks with the Master 
Djwal Kul, who lives quite near to the great crag 
which gives a view of the lake. 

Sometimes our Master plays on the organ which is 
in the large room in His house. He had it made in 
Tibet under His direction, and it is in fact a com- 
bined piano and organ, with a keyboard like those 
which we have in the West, on which He can play all 
our Western music. It is unlike any other instru- 
ment with which I am acquainted, for it is in a sense 
double-fronted, as it can be played either from the 
sitting room or the study. The principal keyboard 


30 Tue MASTERS AND THE PaTH 


(or rather the three keyboards, great organ, swell and 
choir) is in the sitting room, whereas the piano key- 
board is in the study; and these keyboards can be 
used either together or separately. The full organ 
with its pedals can be played in the ordinary way 
from the sitting room; but by turning a handle some- 
what equivalent to a stop, the piano mechanism can 
be linked with the organ, so that it all plays simulta- 
neously. From that point of view, in fact, the piano 
is treated as an additional stop on the organ. 

From the keyboard in the study, however, the piano 
can be played alone as a separate instrument, quite 
dissociated from the organ; but by some complicated 
mechanism the choir organ is also linked to that key- 
board, so that by it one can play the piano alone 
precisely as though it were an ordinary piano, or one 
can play the piano accompanied by the choir organ, 
or at any rate by certain stops of that organ. It is 
also possible, as I said, to separate the two completely, 
and so, with a performer at each keyboard, to play 
a piano-organ duet. The mechanism and the pipes 
of this strange instrument occupy almost the whole 
of what might be called the upper story of this part 
of the Master’s house. By magnetization He has 
placed it in communication with the Gandharvas, or 
Devas of music, so that whenever it is played they 
cooperate, and thus He obtains combinations of sound 
never to be heard on the physical plane; and there 
is, too, an effect produced by the organ itself as of 
an accompaniment of string and wind instruments. 


THE PuysicaAL Bopigs oF THE MASTERS 31 


The song of the Devas is ever being sung in the 
world; it is ever sounding in men’s ears, but they will 
not listen to its beauty. There is the deep bourdon 
of the sea, the sighing of the wind in the trees, the 
roar of the mountain torrent, the music of stream, 
river and waterfall, which together with many others 
form the mighty song of Nature as she lives. This 
is but the echo in the physical world of a far grander 
sound, that of the Being of the Devas. As is said in 
Light on the Path: “Only fragments of the.great 
song come to your ears while you are but man. But, 
if you listen to it, remember it faithfully, so that none 
which has reached you is lost, and endeavor to learn 
from it the meaning of the mystery which surrounds 
you. In time you will need no teacher. For as the 
individual has voice, so has that in which the indi- 
vidual exists. Life itself has speech, and is never 
silent. And its utterance is not, as you that are deaf 
may suppose, a cry; it is a song. Learn from it that 
you are a part of the harmony; learn from it to obey 
the laws of the harmony.” 

Every morning a number of people—not exactly 
pupils, but followers—come to the Master’s house, 
and sit on the veranda and outside it. Sometimes He 
gives them a little talk—a sort of lecturette; but more 
often He goes on with His work and takes no notice 
of them beyond a friendly smile, with which they 
seem equally contented. They evidently come to sit 
in His aura and venerate Him. Sometimes He takes 
His food in their presence, sitting on the veranda, 


32 THe MASTERS AND THE PatTH 


with this crowd of Tibetans cross-legged on the . 


ground around Him; but generally He eats by Him- 
self at a table in His room. It is possible that He 
keeps the rule of the Buddhist monks, and takes no 
food after noon; for I do not remember ever to have 
seen Him eat in the evening: it is even possible that 
He does not need food every day. Most probably 
when He feels inclined He orders the food that He 
would like, and does not take His meals at stated 
times: I have seen Him eating little round cakes, 
brown and sweet; they are made of wheat and sugar 
and butter, and are of the ordinary kind used in the 
household, cooked by His sister. He also eats curry 
and rice, the curry being somewhat in the form of 
soup, like dhal. He uses a curious and beautiful 
golden spoon, with an elephant at the end of the 
handle, the bowl of which is set at an unusual angle 
to the stem. It is a family heirloom, very old and 
probably of great value. He generally wears white 
clothes, but I do not remember ever having seen Him 
wearing a head-dress of any kind, except on the rare 
occasions when He assumes the yellow robe of the 
Gelugpa sect or clan, which includes a hood somewhat. 
of the shape of the Roman helmet. The Master 
Morya, however, generally wears a turban. 

The house of the Master Morya is on the opposite 
side of the valley but much lower down—quite close, 
in fact, to the little temple and the entrance to the 
caves. It is of an entirely different style of archi- 
tecture, having at least two stories, and the front. 


ee 


Tue PuysicaL Bopies or THE MASTERS So 


facing the road has verandas at each level which are 
almost entirely glassed in. The general method and 
arrangement of His life is much the same as that 
already described in the case of the Master Kuthumi. 

If we walk up the road on the left bank of the 
stream, rising gradually along the side of the valley, 
we pass on the right the house and grounds of the 
Master Kuthumi, and further up the hill we find on 
the same side of the road a small hut or cabin which 
He who is now the Master Djwal Kul constructed 
for Himself with His own hands in the days of His 
pupilage, in order that He might have an abiding 
place quite near to His Master. In that cabin hangs 
a sort of plaque upon which at His request one of 
the English pupils of the Master Kuthumi precipi- 
tated many years ago an interior view of the large 
room in the house of the Master Kuthumi, showing 
the figures of various Masters and pupils. This was 
done in commemoration of a certain especially happy 
and fruitful evening at the Master’s house.’ 

Turning now to a consideration of the personal 
appearance of these Great Ones, that is modified to 
some extent by the Ray or type to which each of 
Them belongs. The First Ray has power for its most 
prominent characteristic, and those who are born 
upon it are the kings, the rulers, the governors of the 
world—of the inner and spiritual world in the first 
place, but also of the physical plane. Any man who 
possesses in a very unusual degree the qualities which 
enable him to dominate men and to guide them 


34 Tue MASTERS AND THE PATH 


smoothly along the course which he desires is likely | 


to be either a First-Ray man or one who is tending 
towards the First Ray. 

Such a kingly figure is the Lord Vaivasvata Manu, 
the Ruler of the Fifth Root-Race, Who is the tallest 
of all the Adepts, being six feet eight inches in height, 
and perfectly proportioned. He is the Representative 
Man of our Race, its prototype, and every member 
of that Race is directly descended from Him. The 
Manu has a very striking face of great power, with 
an aquiline nose, a full and flowing brown beard, and 
brown eyes, and a magnificent head of leonine poise. 
“Tall is He,” says our President, “and of King-like 
majesty, with eyes piercing as an eagle’s, tawny and 
brilliant with golden lights.” He is living at present 
in the Himalaya mountains, not far from the house 
of His great Brother, the Lord Maitreya. 

Such a figure also is the Master Morya, the lieu- 
tenant and successor of the Lord Vaivasvata Manu, 
and the future Manu of the Sixth Root-Race. He is 
a Rajput King by birth, and has a dark beard divided 
into two parts, dark, almost black, hair falling to His 
shoulders, and dark and piercing eyes, full of power. 
He is six feet six inches in height, and bears Himself 
like a soldier, speaking in short terse sentences as if 
He were accustomed to being instantly obeyed. In 
His presence there is a sense of overwhelming power 
and strength, and He has an imperious dignity that 
compels the deepest reverence. 

Madame Blavatsky has often told us how she met. 


Tue Puysicat Bopres or THE MASTERS 30 


the Master Morya in Hyde Park, London, in the vear 
1851, when He came over with a number of other 
Indian Princes to attend the first great International 
Exhibition. Strangely enough, I myself, then a little 
child of four, saw Him also, all unknowing. I can 
remember being taken to see a gorgeous procession, 
in which among many other wonders came a party 
of richly dressed Indian horsemen. Magnificent 
‘ horsemen they were, riding steeds as fine, I suppose, 
as any in the world, and it was only natural that my 
childish eyes were fixed upon them in great delight, 
and that they were perhaps to me the finest exhibit 
of that marvelous and fairy-like show. And even as 
I watched them pass, as I stood holding my father’s 
hand, one of the tallest of those heroes fixed me with 
gleaming black eyes, which half-frightened me, and 
yet at the same time filled me somehow with inde- 
scribable happiness and exaltation. He passed with 
the others, and I saw Him no more, yet often the 
vision of that flashing eye returned to my childish 
memory. 

Of course, I knew nothing then of who He was, and 
I should never have identified Him had it not been 
for a gracious remark which He made to me many 
years afterwards. Speaking one day in His presence 
of the earlier days of the Society I happened to say 
that the first time I had had the privilege of seeing 
Him in materialized form was on a certain occasion 
when He came into Madame Blavatsky’s room at 
Adyar, for the purpose of giving her strength and 


36 Tue MASTERS AND THE PatH 


issuing certain directions. He Himself, who was en- . 
gaged in conversation with some other Adepts, turned 
sharply upon me and said: ‘No, that was not the first 
time. Do you not remember, as a tiny child, watching 
the Indian horsemen ride past in Hyde Park, and did 
you not see how even then I singled you out?” I 
remembered instantly, of course, and said: “O Mas- 
ter, was that you? But I ought to have known it.” 
I do not mention this incident among the occasions 
when I have met and spoken with a Master, both 
parties to the interview being in the physical body, 
because I did not at the time know that great horse- 
man to be the Master, and because the evidence of 
so small a child might well be doubted or discounted. 

Another such regal figure is the Lord Chakshusha 
Manu, the Manu of the Fourth Root-Race, Who is 
Chinese by birth, and of very high caste. He has 
the high Mongolian cheek bones, and His face looks 
as though it were delicately carven from old ivory. 
He generally wears magnificent robes of flowing cloth 
of gold. As a rule we do not come into contact with 
Him in our regular work, except when it happens that 
we have to deal with a pupil belonging to His Root- 
Race. 

In the persons of our Lord the Bodhisattva, the 
World-Teacher and of the Master Kuthumi, His 
principal lieutenant, the influence that is especially 
noticeable is the radiance of Their all-embracing Love. 
The Lord Maitreya is wearing a body of the Keltic 
race at the present time, though when He comes forth 





Tue PuysicaL Bopies oF THE MASTERS AY | 


to the world to teach His people, as He intends to do 
very shortly, He will make use of a body prepared 
for Him by one of His disciples. His is a face of 
wondrous beauty, strong and yet most tender, with 
rich hair flowing like red gold about His shoulders. 
His beard is pointed, as in some of the old pictures, 
and His eyes, of a wonderful violet, are like twin 

flowers, like stars, like deep and holy pools filled with 
~ the waters of everlasting peace. His smile is dazzling 
beyond words, and a blinding glory of Light surrounds 
Him, intermingled with that marvelous rose-colored 
glow which ever shines from the Lord of Love. 

We may think of Him as seated in the great front 
room of His house in the Himalayas, the room with 
many windows, that overlooks the gardens and the 
terraces and, far below, the rolling Indian plains; or 
in flowing robes of white, edged with a deep border 
of gold, as walking in His garden in the cool of the 
evening, among the glorious flowers, whose perfume 
fills the surrounding air with a rich, sweet fragrance. 
Wondrous beyond measure is our Holy Lord the 
Christ, wondrous beyond any power of description, for 
through Him flows the Love which comforts millions, 
and His is the Voice that speaks, as never man spake, 
the words of teaching that bring peace to angels and 
to men. Within a very few years that Voice will be 
heard and that Love be felt by those who dwell in 
the dark ways of earth; may we prepare ourselves 
to receive Him when He comes, and give Him fitting 
welcome and faithful service! 


38 Tue MaAstTers AND THE PaTH 


The Master Kuthumi wears the body of a Kashmiri . 
Brahman, and is as fair in complexion as the average 
Englishman. He, too, has flowing hair, and His 
eyes are blue, and full of joy and love. His hair and 
beard are brown, which, as the sunlight catches it, 
becomes ruddy with glints of gold. His face is some- 
what hard to describe, for His expression is ever 
changing as He smiles; the nose is finely chiseled, and 
the eyes are large and of a wonderful liquid blue. 
Like the great Lord, He, too, is a Teacher and Priest, 
and many centuries hence He will succeed Him in His 
high Office, and will assume the scepter of the World- 
Teacher, and become the Bodhisattva of the Sixth 
Root-Race. 

The Maha-Chohan is the type of the Statesman, the 
great Organizer, though He too has many military 
qualities. He wears an Indian body, and is tall and 
thin, with a sharp profile, very fine and clear cut, and 
no hair on the face. His face is rather stern, with a 
strong, square chin; His eyes are deep and penetrat- 
ing, and He speaks somewhat abruptly, as a soldier 
speaks. He generally wears Indian robes and a white 
turban. 

The Master the Comte de St. Germain resembles 
Him in many ways. ‘Though He is not especially 
tall, He is very upright and military in His bearing, 
and He has the exquisite courtesy and dignity of a 
grand seigneur of the eighteenth century; we feel at 
once that He belongs to a very old and noble family. 
His eyes are large and brown, and are filled with 


THE PHYSICAL Bopies oF THE MASTERS 39 


tenderness and humor, though there is in them a glint 
of power; and the splendor of His presence impels 
men to make obeisance. His face is olive-tanned; 
His close-cut brown hair is parted in the center and 
brushed back from the forehead, and he has a short 
and pointed beard. Often He wears a dark uniform 
with facings of gold lace—often also a magnificent 
red military cloak—and these accentuate His soldier- 
like appearance. He usually resides in an ancient 
castle in Eastern Europe that has belonged to His 
family for many centuries. 

The Master Serapis is tall, and fair in complexion. 
He is a Greek by birth, though all His work has been 
done in Egypt and in connection with the Egyptian 
Lodge. He is very distinguished and ascetic in face, 
somewhat resembling the late Cardinal Newman. 

Perhaps the Venetian Chohan is the handsomest of 
all the members of the Brotherhood. He is very tall 
—about six feet five inches, and has a flowing beard 
and golden hair somewhat like those of the Manu; 
and His eyes are blue. Although He was born in 
Venice, His family undoubtedly has Gothic blood in 
its veins, for He is a man distinctly of that type. 

The Master Hilarion is a Greek and, except that 
He has a slightly aquiline nose, is of the ancient 
Greek type. His forehead is low and broad, and re- 
sembles that of the Hermes of Praxiteles. He, too, 
is wonderfully handsome, and looks rather younger 
than most of the Adepts. 

He who was once the disciple Jesus is now wearing 


40 Tue MASTERS AND THE PatTH 


a Syrian body. He has the dark skin, dark eyes and - 
black beard of the Arab, and generally wears white 
robes and a turban. He is the Master of devotees, 
and the keynote of His Presence is an intense purity, 
and a fiery type of devotion that brooks no obstacles. 
He lives amongst the Druses of Mount Lebanon. 

Two of the Great Ones with Whom we have come 
in contact diverge slightly from what perhaps we may 
call, with all reverence, the usual type of the physical 
body of the Adept. One of these is He of Whom 
Colonel Olcott several times writes, upon Whom the 
name Jupiter was conferred in the book, Man: 
Whence, How and Whither. He is shorter than most 
members of the Brotherhood, and is the only One 
of Them, so far as I am aware, Whose hair shows 
streaks of gray. He holds Himself very upright, and 
moves with alertness and military precision. He is 
a landed proprietor, and during the visit which I paid 
to Him with Swami T. Subba Rao, I saw Him several 
times transacting business with men who appeared to 
be foremen, bringing reports to Him and receiving in- 
structions. The other is the Master Djwal Kul, who 
is still wearing the same body in which He attained 
Adeptship only a few years ago. Perhaps for that 
reason it has not been possible to make that body 
a perfect reproduction of the Augoeides. His face is 
distinctly Tibetan in character, with high cheek bones, 
and is somewhat rugged in appearance, showing signs 
of age. 

Sometimes an Adept for some special purpose wants 





Tue PuysicaL Bopres or THE MASTERS 41 


a body to use temporarily amid the bustle of the 
world. That will be the case when the World-Teacher 
comes, and we have been told that several other 
Adepts also may then appear, to act as His lieuten- 
ants and assist Him in His great work for humanity. 
Most of these Great Ones will follow the example of 
Their Chief, and borrow temporarily the bodies of 
_ Their pupils, so it is necessary that a certain number 
of such vehicles should be ready for Their use. 
Students sometimes ask why, since the Adepts have 
physical bodies already, They will need others on this 
occasion. 

Those Who, attaining the level of Adeptship, choose 
as Their future career to remain upon this world and 
help directly in the evolution of Their own humanity, 
find it convenient for Their work to retain physical 
bodies. In order to be suitable for Their purposes, 
these bodies must be of no ordinary kind. Not only 
must they be absolutely sound in health, but they 
must also be perfect expressions of as much of the 
ego as can be manifested on the physical plane. 

The building up of such a body as this is no light 
task. When the ego of an ordinary man comes down 
to his new baby body, he finds it in charge of an 
artificial elemental, which has been created accord- 
ing to his karma, as I have described in The Inner 
Infe. This elemental is industriously occupied in 
modeling the form which is soon to be born in the 
outer world, and it remains after birth and continues 
that molding process usually until the body is six or 


42 Tue MASTERS AND THE PATH 


seven years old. During this period the ego is grad-— 


ually acquiring closer contact with his new vehicles, 
emotional and mental as well as physical, and is be- 
coming accustomed to them; but the actual work done 
by himself upon these new vehicles up to the point at 
which the elemental withdraws is, in most cases, in- 
considerable. He is certainly in connection with the 
body, but generally pays but little attention to it, 
preferring to wait until it has reached a stage where 
it is more responsive to his efforts. 

The case of an Adept is very different from this. 
As there is no evil karma to be worked out, no 
artificial elemental is at work, and the ego himself 
is in sole charge of the development of the body from 
the beginning, finding himself limited only by its 
heredity. ‘This enables a far more refined and deli- 
cate instrument to be produced, but it also involves 
more trouble for the ego, and engages for some years 
a considerable amount of his time and energy. In 
consequence of this, and no doubt for other reasons 
as well, an Adept does not wish to repeat the process 
more often than is strictly necessary, and He there- 
fore makes His physical body last as long as pos- 
sible. Our bodies grow old and die for various rea- 
sons, from inherited weakness, disease, accident and 
self-indulgence, worry and overwork. But in the case 
of an Adept none of these causes is present, though 
we must of course remember that His body is fit for 
work and capable of endurance immeasurably beyond 
those of ordinary men. 


Tur PuysicaL Bopins oF THE MASTERS 43 


The bodies of the Adepts being such as we have 
described They are usually able to hold’ possession 
of them much longer than an ordinary man can, and 
the consequence is that we find on inquiry that the 
age of any such body is usually much greater than 
from appearances we had supposed it to be. The 
Master Morya, for example, appears to be a man 
absolutely in the prime of life—possibly thirty-five 
‘or forty years of age; yet many of the stories which 
His pupils tell of Him assign to Him an age four or 
five times greater than that, and Madame Blavatsky 
herself told us that when she first saw Him in her 
childhood He appeared to her exactly the same as at 
the present time. Again, the Master Kuthumi has the 
appearance of being about the same age as His con- 
stant friend and companion, the Master Morya; yet 
it has been said that He took a university degree in 
Europe just before the middle of the last century, 
which would certainly make Him something very like 
a centenarian. We have at present no means of 
knowing what is the limit of prolongation, though 
there is evidence to show that it may easily extend 
to more than double the threescore years and ten of 
the Psalmist. ; 

A body thus made suitable for higher work is in- 
evitably a sensitive one, and for that very reason it 
requires careful treatment if it is to be always at its 
best. It would wear out as ours do if it were sub- 
jected to the innumerable petty frictions of the outer 
world, and its constant torrent of unsympathetic vi- 


44 Tue MASTERS AND THE PatH 


brations. Therefore the Great Ones usually live in 


comparative seclusion, and appear but rarely in that 
cyclonic chaos which we call daily life. If They were 
to bring Their bodies into the whirl of curiosity and 
vehement emotion which is likely to surround the 
World-Teacher when He comes, there can be no doubt 
that the life of these bodies would be greatly short- 
ened, and also, because of their extreme sensitiveness, 
there would be much unnecessary suffering. 

By temporarily occupying the body of a pupil, the 
Adept avoids these inconveniences, and at the same 
time gives an incalculable impetus to the pupil’s evo- 
lution. He inhabits the vehicle only when He needs 
it—to deliver a lecture, perhaps, or to pour a special 
flood of blessing; and as soon as He has done what 
He wishes, He steps out of the body, and the pupil, 
who has all the while been in attendance, resumes it, 
as the Adept goes back to His own proper vehicle to 
continue His usual work for the helping of the world. 
In this way His regular business is but little affected, 
yet He has always at His disposal a body through 
which He can cooperate, when required, on the phys- 
ical plane, in the beatific mission of the World- 
Teacher. 

We can readily imagine in what ways this will 
affect the pupil who is so favored as to have the op- 
portunity of thus lending his body to a Great One, 
though the extent of its action may well be beyond 
our calculation. A vehicle tuned by such an influ- 
ence will be to him verily an assistance, not a limi- 


fa 


THE Puysicat Bopigs of THE MASTERS 45 


tation; and while his body is in use he will always 
have the privilege of bathing in the Adept’s marvel- 
ous magnetism, for he must be at hand to resume 
charge as soon as the Master has finished with it. 

This plan of borrowing a suitable body is always 
adopted by the Great Ones when They think it well 
to descend among men, under conditions such as those 
-which now obtain in the world, The Lord Gautama 
employed it when He came to attain the Buddha- 
hood, and the Lord Maitreya took the same course 
when He visited Palestine two thousand years ago. 
The only exception known to me is that when a new 
Bodhisattva assumes the office of World-Teacher after 
His predecessor has become the Buddha, on His first 
appearance in the world in that capacity He takes 
birth as a little child in the ordinary way. Thus did 
our Lord, the present Bodhisattva, when He took 
birth as Shri Krishna on the glowing plains of India, 
to be reverenced and loved with a passion of devotion 
that has scarcely ever been equaled. 

This temporary occupation of a pupil’s body should 
not be confused with the permanent use by an ad- 
vanced person of a vehicle prepared for him by some- 
one else. It is generally known among her followers 
that our great Founder, Madame Blavatsky, when she 
left the body in which we knew her, entered another 
which had just been abandoned by its original tenant. 
As to whether that body had been specially prepared 
for her use, I have no information; but other instances 
are known in which that was done. There is always 


46 Tue MASTERS AND THE PaTH 


in such cases a certain difficulty in adapting the 
vehicle to the needs and idiosyncrasies of the new 
occupant; and it is probable that it never becomes a 
perfectly fitting garment. There is for the incoming 
ego a choice between devoting a considerable amount 
of time and trouble to superintending the growth of 
a new vehicle, which would be a perfect expression 
of him, as far as that is possible on the physical 
plane; or of avoiding all that difficulty by entering 
the body of another—a process which will provide a 
reasonably good instrument for all ordinary purposes, 
but which will never fulfill in every respect all that 
its owner desires. In all cases, a pupil would natu- 
rally be eager to have the honor of giving up his body 
to his Master; but few indeed are the vehicles pure 
enough to be so used. 

The question is often raised as to why an Adept, 
Whose work seems to lie almost entirely on higher 
planes, needs a physical body at all. It is really no 
concern of ours, but if speculation on such a matter 
be not irreverent, various reasons suggest themselves. 
The Adept spends much of His time in projecting 
streams of influence, and while, so far as has been 
observed, these are most often on the higher mental 
level, or on the plane above that, it is probable that 
they may sometimes at least be etheric currents, and 
for the manipulation of these the possession of a 
physical body is undoubtedly an advantage. Again, 
most of the Masters Whom I have seen have a few 
pupils or assistants who live with or near Them on 


Tue PuysicaLt Bopizs oF THE MASTERS 47 


the physical plane, and a physical body may be neces- 
sary for their sake. Of this we may be certain, that 
if an Adept chooses to take the trouble to maintain 
such a body, He has a good reason for it; for we 
know enough of Their methods of working to be fully 
aware that They always do everything in the best 
way, and by the means which involve the least ex- 
penditure of energy. 


Cuapter III 
THE WAY TO THE MASTER 


There has always been a Brotherhood of Adepts, 
the Great White Brotherhood; there have always been 
Those Who knew, Those Who possessed this inner 
wisdom, and our Masters are among the present rep- 
resentatives of that mighty line of Seers and Sages. 
Part of the knowledge which They have garnered 
during countless #ons is available to everyone on 
the physical plane under the name of Theosophy. 
But there is far more behind. The Master Kuthumi 
Himself once said smilingly, when someone spoke of 
the enormous change that the Theosophical knowledge 
had made in our lives, and of the wonderful compre- 
hensiveness of the doctrine of reincarnation: “Yes, 
but we have only lifted a very small corner of the 
veil as yet.” When we have thoroughly assimilated 
the knowledge given us, and are all living up to its 
teaching, the Brotherhood will be ready to lift the 
veil further; but only when we have complied with 
those conditions. 

For those who wish to know more and to draw 
nearer, the Path is open. But the man who aspires 
to approach the Masters can reach Them only by 
making himself unselfish as They are unselfish, by 


Tuer Way To THE MASTER 49 


learning to forget the personal self, and by devoting 
himself wholly to the service of humanity as They 
do. Their point of view is so radically ‘different from 
ours that it is difficult at first for us to grasp it. They 
have their private affections just as we have, and 
assuredly They love some men more than others; but 
They will never allow such feelings as those to influ- 
ence Their attitude in the very slightest degree when 
the work is in question. They will take much trouble 
over a man if They see in him the seeds of future 
greatness, if They think that he will prove a good in- 
vestment for the amount of time and force spent upon 
him. There is no such possibility as the faintest 
thought of favoritism in the minds of these Great Ones. 
They consider simply and solely the work which has to 
be done, the work of evolution, and the value of the 
man in relation to it; and if we will fit ourselves to 
take part in that, our progress will be rapid. 

Few people realize the magnitude of this under- 
taking and therefore the seriousness of what they are 
asking when they want to be taken as pupils. The 
Adepts are dealing with the entire world in enormous 
comprehensive sweeps of power; They are influencing 
millions in their causal bodies or on the buddhic 
plane, and all the time steadily, though by almost 
imperceptible degrees, raising the higher bodies of the 
people on a wholesale scale. And yet the same Mas- 
ter Who spends His life in doing that work will some- 
times turn aside and pay personal attention to little 
details connected with one pupil. All who dare to 


50 Tue MASTERS AND THE PatH 


ask to become pupils should try to realize the stu- 
pendous character of the forces and the work, and the 
magnitude of the Beings with Whom they propose to 
come into contact. The least understanding of the 
greatness of all these things will make it clear why 
the Adepts will not spend some of Their energy on a 
pupil unless They have evidence that in a reasonable 
time he will add to the support of the world a strong 
current of strength and power in the right direction. 
They live to do the work of the Logos of the system, 
and those of us who wish to draw near to Them must 
learn to do likewise, and live only for the work. 
Those who do that will certainly attract the attention 
of the Holy Ones, and be trained by Them to help 
and bless the world. 

Human progress is slow, but it is constant; there- 
fore the number of the Perfected Men is increasing, 
and the possibility of attaining to Their level is within 
the reach of all who are willing to make the stupen- 
dous effort required. In normal times we should need 
many births before we could gain Adeptship, but just 
now it is possible for us to hasten our progress on that 
Path, to compress into a few lives the evolution which 
otherwise would take many thousands of years. That 
is the effort which is being made by many members 
of the Theosophical Society; for there is in that 
Society an Inner School which teaches men how to 
prepare themselves more rapidly for this higher work. 
That preparation needs great self-control, determined 
effort carried on year after year, and often with but 


THE Way To THE MAsTER 51 


little to show outwardly in the way of definite prog- 
ress; for it involves the training of the higher bodies 
far more than the physical body, and the training of 
the higher does not always manifest itself very ob- 
viously on the physical plane. 

Any one who hears about the Masters and Their 
teaching, if he has any grasp at all of what it means 
and involves, must instantly be seized with a most 
_intense desire to understand Them and enter Their 
service; the more he learns the more does he become: 
filled with the wonder and beauty and glory of God’s 
plan, and the more anxious does he become to take 
part in the work. Once he has realized that God has 
a plan of evolution, he wants to be a fellow-laborer 
with God, and nothing else can possibly bring sat-. 
isfaction. 

Then he begins to ask himself the question, “What 
must I do next?” and the answer is: “Work. Do 
what you can to help the progress of humanity in 
the Master’s way. Begin with what you have the: 
opportunity to do and what you can do, which may 
be any little external thing at first, and presently as 
you acquire the necessary qualities of character you 
will be drawn into the higher side of it all, until, 
through striving to be and do your best you will find 
yourself possessed of the qualifications which admit 
to Initiation and membership in the Great White 
Brotherhood itself.” I remember, when first I had 
the privilege of coming into somewhat closer touch 
with the Master, I asked Him in a letter what I should. 


52 Tue MAstTEerRs AND THE PatH 


do. He answered to the following effect: “You must 
find work for yourself; you know what we are doing. 
Throw yourself into our work in any way you can. 
If I gave you a definite piece of work to do you would 
do it, but in that case the karma of what was done 
would be mine, because I told you to do it. You 
would have only the karma of willing obedience, 
which, of course, is very good, but it is not the karma 
of initiating a fruitful line of action. I want you to 
initiate work for yourself, because then the karma 
of the good deed will come to you.” 

I think we might all take that unto ourselves. We 
might realize that it is our business not to wait until 
we are asked to do something, but to set to work. 
There is a good deal of quite humble work to be done 
in connection with Theosophy. Often perhaps some 
of us would prefer the more spectacular part; we 
would like to stand up and deliver lectures in public 
to big audiences. You can generally find people who 
are willing to offer themselves for that; but there is 
a great deal of humdrum office work to be done in 
connection with our Society, and we do not always 
find so many volunteers for that. Reverence and 
love for our Masters would lead us to be willing to 
do anything whatever in Their service, however hum- 
ble; and we may be sure that we are working in Their 
service when we are helping the Society which two 
of Them founded. 

The qualifications for admission to the Great White 
Brotherhood, which have to be acquired in the course 





Tue Way To THE MASTER 53 


of the work in the earlier part of the Path, are of a 
very definite character, and are always essentially the 
same, although they have been described in many 
different terms during the last twenty-five centuries. 
But the latest and simplest account of them is to be 
found in Mr. J. Krishnamurti’s wonderful little book, 
At the Feet of the Master. 

Although Mr. Krishnamurti puts this book before 
_ the world, the words which it contains are almost en- 
tirely those of the Master Kuthumi. ‘These are not 
my words,” the author says in the Foreword; ‘They 
are the words of the Master who taught me.” When 
the book was written, Mr. Krishnamurti’s body was 
thirteen years old, and it was necessary for the Mas- 
ter’s plans that the knowledge requisite for Initiation 
should be conveyed to him as quickly as possible. 
The words contained in the book are those in which 
the Master tried to convey the whole essence of the 
necessary teaching in the simplest and briefest form. 
But for the requirements of this particular case, we 
might never have had a statement so concise and yet 
so complete, so simple and yet so all-inclusive. Many 
books have been written expounding the details of 
the stages of this preparatory path, and there has been 
much argument over the exact shades of meaning of 
Sanskrit and Pali words; but in this little manual 
the Master boldly brushes all that aside and gives 
nothing but the essence of the teaching, expressed as 
far as may be in modern terms and illustrated from 
modern life. For example, He translates the four 


54 Tue MASTERS AND THE PATH 


qualifications Viveka, Vairagya, Shatsampatti and 
Mumukshatva as Discrimination, Desirelessness, Good 
Conduct and Love. By no possible license can the 
English word love be taken as a literal translation 
of the Sanskrit word Mumukshatva, for that unques- 
tionably means simply the desire for liberation. The 
Master apparently argues thus: that the intense de- 
sire for freedom is desire for escape from all worldly 
limitations, so that even when among them one may 
be absolutely free from the slightest feeling of bond- 
age to them. Such freedom can be attained only 
by union with the Supreme, with the One Who is 
behind all, that is to say, by union with God—and 
God is Love. Therefore only by our becoming thor- 
oughly permeated with the Divine Love can freedom 
become possible for us. 

There is no more beautiful or satisfactory descrip- 
tion of the qualifications than that given in this book, 
and one may say with confidence that any one who 
will thoroughly carry out its teaching will certainly 
pass immediately through the portal of Initiation. 
It was a very exceptional case for the Master to spend 
so much of His time in the direct teaching of one 
individual, but through Mr. Krishnamurti it has 
reached tens of thousands of others, and helped them 
to an immeasurable extent. 

The story of how this little book came to be written 
is comparatively simple. Every night I had to take 
this boy in his astral body to the house of the Master, 
that instruction might be given him. The Master de- 


Tue Way To THE MASTER 55 


voted perhaps fifteen minutes each night to talking to 
him, but at the end of each talk he always gathered 
up the main points of what He had said into a single 
sentence, or a few sentences, thus making an easy 
little summary which was repeated to the boy, so that 
he learnt it by heart. He remembered that summary 
in the morning and wrote it down. The book consists 
of these sentences, of the epitome of the Master’s 
teaching, made by Himself, and in His words. The 
boy wrote them down somewhat laboriously, because 
his English was not then very good. He knew all 
these things by heart and did not trouble particularly 
about the notes that he had made. A little later he 
went up to Benares with our President. While there 
he wrote to me, I being down at Adyar, and asked 
me to collect and send to him all the notes that he 
had made of what the Master had said. I arranged 
his notes as well as I could, and typed them all out. 

Then it seemed to me that as these were mainly the 
Master’s words I had better make sure that there was 
no mistake in recording them. Therefore I took the 
typewritten copy which I had made to the Master 
Kuthumi and asked Him to be so kind as to read it 
over. He read it, altered a word or two here and 
there, added some connecting and explanatory notes 
and a few other sentences which I remembered hav- 
ing heard Him speak. Then He said: “Yes, that 
-seems correct; that will do;” but He added, “Let us 
show it to the Lord Maitreya.” And so we went 
together, He taking the book, and it was shown to 


56 Tue MASTERS AND THE PATH 


the World-Teacher Himself, Who read it and ap- 
proved. It was He Who said: “You should make 
a nice little book of this to introduce Alcyone to the 
world.” We had not meant to introduce him to the 
world; we had not considered it desirable that a mass 
of thought should be concentrated on a boy of thir- 
teen, who still had his education before him. But in 
the occult world we do what we are told, and so this 
book was put into the printer’s hands the following 
morning. é 

All the inconveniences which we expected from 
premature publicity came about; but still the Lord 
Maitreya was right and we were wrong; for the good 
that has been done by that book far outweighs the 
trouble it brought to us. Numbers of people, literally 
thousands, have written to say how their whole lives 
have been changed by it, how everything has become 
different to them because they have read it. It has 
been translated into twenty-seven languages. There 
have been some forty editions of it, or more, and over 
a hundred thousand copies have been printed. A 
wonderful work has been done by it. Above all, it 
bears that special imprimatur of the Coming World- 
Teacher, and that is the thing that makes it most 
valuable—the fact that it shows us, to a certain ex- 
tent, what His teaching is to be. Other books also 
there are which the pupil will find of the utmost use 
to him in his endeavor to enter upon this Path; The 
Voice of the Silence and Light on the Path were given 
to us for this purpose, and our President’s wonderful 


Tue Way To THE MASTER 57 


books In the Outer Court and The Path of Disciple- 
ship will be found of inestimable value. 

Having these books before him the pupil is left in 
no doubt as to what he should do. He should ob- 
viously make efforts along two particular lines—the 
development of his own character, and the under- 
taking of definite work for others. Clearly what is 
set before him in this teaching implies an altogether 
different attitude towards life in general; that has 
been expressed by one of the Masters in the phrase, 
“He that wishes to work with us and for us must 
leave his own world and come into ours.”’ That does 
not mean, as might usually be supposed by students 
of Oriental literature, that the pupil must abandon 
the ordinary world of physical life and business, and 
retire to the jungle, the cave or the mountain, but it 
does mean that he must abandon altogether the 
worldly attitude of mind and adopt instead of it the 
attitude of the Master. The man of the world thinks 
of the events of life chiefly as they affect himself and 
his personal interests; the Master thinks of them only 
as they affect the evolution of the world. Whatsoever 
on the whole tends to progress and helps humanity 
along its path—that is good and to be supported; 
whatsoever in any way hinders these things—that is 
undesirable and should be opposed or set aside. That 
is good which helps evolution, that is evil which re- 
tards it. Here we have a criterion very different from 
that of the outer world; a touchstone by means of 
which we can quickly decide what we must support 


58 Tue MASTERS AND THE PATH 


and what we must resist; and we can apply it to 
qualities in our own character as well as to outer 
events. We shall be of use to the Master just in 
so far as we can work along with Him, in however 
humble a fashion; we can best work along with Him 
by making ourselves like to Him so that we shall 
regard the world as He regards it. 

If we work along the same lines as He works we 
shall come more and more into sympathy with Him, 
and our thoughts will become more and more like His. 
This will bring us nearer and nearer to Him both in 
thought and activity, and, in so doing, presently we 
shall attract His attention, for He is all the time 
watching the world in order to find those who will 
be of use in His work. Noticing us, He will pres- 
ently draw us nearer to Him for still closer and more 
detailed observation. That is usually done by bring- 
ing us into contact with one who is already His 
pupil. It is thus quite unnecessary for anyone to 
make any direct effort to attract His attention. 

Madame Blavatsky told us that whenever a person 
joined the outer Theosophical Society the Master 
looked at him, and furthermore she said that in many 
cases the Great Ones guided people to join the Society 
because of their previous lives. So it would seem that 
They usually know a great deal about us before we 
know anything about Them. The Adept never forgets 
anything. He appears to be always in full possession 
of all that has happened to Him, and so if He does 
cast even a most casual glance at a person He will 





Tue Way To THE MASTER 59 


never thereafter overlook that person. When a per- 
son joins the Inner School a definite link is formed, 
not yet directly with an Adept, but first of all with 
the Outer Head of the School, and through her with 
her Master, Who is the Inner Head. 

That link so made with the Outer Head is definitely 
increased and strengthened at each step further into 
the School. In the introductory stages there is but 
a slight connection; something much more definite 
comes with the taking of the pledge of the School, and 
those who take the pledges of the higher degrees draw 
a little nearer still. This mainly shows itself in a 
thickening of the line of communication, for there is 
a line of thought connecting each member of the 
School with the Outer Head, because he constantly 
thinks of her in his meditation. That keeps the link 
bright and strong. 

She on her part has become one with her Master. 
Therefore a connection with her is in that sense a 
connection with Him. All those in the Inner School 
are thus in touch with her Master, the Master Morya, 
though they are often working on other lines than 
His, and will become pupils of other Masters when 
they are taken on probation. Under such circum- 
stances, however, they will receive the influenre of 
their own future Master through these channels, be- 
cause the Adepts, although living far apart physically, 
are in such very close contact that to be in touch 
with one of Them is really to be linked with all. It 
seems to us a roundabout connection; but it is much 


60 Tue MASTERS AND THE PaTH 


less so than we think down here, because of the 
amazingly close unity between the Great Ones on- 
higher levels. 

Even at the early stage of this indirect link through 
the Outer Head, the Master can work to a certain ex- 
tent through any of those people if He wishes to do 
so. It is a little out of His way to send His force 
through a channel not specially prepared, so He does 
not usually do it. But He has some sort of conscious- 
ness of those who are in His School, which sometimes 
manifests itself in the way of sending to them a help- 
ful thought when they are doing some work for Him. 
I have known Him to utilize a member of the School 
who was giving a lecture, in order to put some fresh 
point before the people. Of course, He does that far 
more frequently with His pupils, but it has certainly 
been done with others as well. 

When a student understands all this he will no 
longer ask: ‘What can I do that will attract the 
Master’s attention?” He will know that it is quite 
unnecessary that we should try to do so and that there 
is not the slightest fear that any one will be over- 
looked. 

I remember very well an incident of the early days 
of my own connection with the Great Ones, which 
bears on this point. I knew on the physical plane 
a man of vast erudition and of the most saintly char- 
acter, who believed thoroughly in the existence of 
the Masters, and devoted his life to the one object of 
qualifying himself for Their service. He seemed to 


Tue Way To THE MASTER 61 


me a man in every way so entirely suitable for dis- 
cipleship, so obviously better than myself in many 
ways, that I could not understand how it was that 
he was not already recognized; and so, being young 
in the work and ignorant, one day, when a good oppor- 
tunity offered itself, I very humbly and as it were 
apologetically mentioned his name to the Master, with 
the suggestion that he might perhaps prove a good 
instrument. A smile of kindly amusement broke out 
upon the Master’s face as He said: 

“Ah, you need not fear that your friend is being 
overlooked; no one can ever be overlooked; but in 
this case there still remains a certain karma to be 
worked out, which makes it impossible at the moment 
to accept your suggestion. Soon your friend will pass 
away from the physical plane, and soon he will re- 
turn to it again, and then the expiation will be com- 
plete and what you desire for him will have become 
possible.” 

And then, with the gentle kindness which is always 
so prominent a characteristic in Him, He blended my 
consciousness with His in an even more intimate man- 
ner, and raised it to a plane far higher than I could 
then reach, and from that elevation He showed me 
how the Great Ones look out upon the world. The 
whole earth lay before us with all its millions of souls, 
undeveloped, most of them, and therefore inconspic- 
uous; but wherever amidst all that mighty multitude 
there was one who was approaching even at a great 
distance the point at which definite use could be made 


62 Tue MASTERS AND THE PaTH 


of him, he stood out among the rest just as the flame 
of a lighthouse stands out in the darkness of the 
night. 

“Now you see,” said the Master, “how utterly im- 
possible it would be that any one should be overlooked 
who is even within measurable distance of the possi- 
bility of acceptance as a probationer.” 

We can do nothing on our side but steadily work 
at the improvement of our character, and endeavor 
in every possible way, by the study of. Theosophical 
works, by self-development, and by the unselfishness 
of our devotion to the interests of others, to fit our- 
selves for the honor which we desire, having within 
our minds the utter certainty that as soon as we are 
ready the recognition will assuredly come. But until 
we can be utilized economically—until, that is to say, 
the force spent upon us will bring forth, through our 
actions, at least as much result as it would if spent 
in any other way, it would be a violation of duty on 
the part of the Master to draw us into close relations 
with Him. 

We may be quite sure that there are in reality no 
exceptions to this rule, even though we may sometimes 
think that we have seen some. A man may be put 
upon probation by an Adept while he has still some 
obvious faults, but we may be sure that in such a 
case there are good qualities under the surface which 
far more than counterbalance the superficial defects. 
Like the rest of us, the Great Masters of Wisdom have 
a long line of lives behind Them, and in those lives, 


) 


Tue Way To THE MASTER 63 


like others, They have made certain karmic ties, and 
so sometimes it happens that a particular individual 
has a claim on Them for some service rendered long 
ago. In the lines of past lives which we have ex- 
amined we have sometimes come across instances of 
such a karmic link. 

Remember also that everyone who meditates upon 
the Master makes a definite connection with Him, 
which shows itself to clairvoyant vision as a kind of 
line of light. The Master always subconsciously feels 
the impinging of such a line, and sends out in re- 
sponse a steady stream of magnetism which continues 
to play long after the meditation is over. The regular 
practice of such meditation and concentration is thus 
of the utmost help to the aspirant, and regularity is 
one of the most important factors in producing the 
result. It should be undertaken daily at the same 
hour, and we should steadily persevere with it, even 
though no obvious effect may be produced. When 
no result appears we must be especially careful to 
avoid depression, because that makes it more difficult 
for a Master’s influence to act upon us, and it also 
shows that we are thinking of ourselves more than 
of Him. 

People very often come or write to our President 
or to myself and say, “Why does not the Master use 
me? Iam so earnest and devoted to Him. I do so 
want to be used. I want Him to take me and teach 
me. Why does He not do so?” 

There may be many reasons why He does not. 


64 THe MASTERS AND THE PaTH 


Sometimes a person, asking that, will have some 

prominent fault which is in itself quite a sufficient 
reason. Not infrequently, I regret to say, it is pride. 
A person may have so good a conceit of himself that 
he is not amenable to teaching, although he thinks 
that he is. Very often in this civilization of ours the 
fault is irritability. A good and worthy person will 
have his nerves all ajangle, so that it would be im- 
possible for him to be drawn into very close and con- 
stant touch with the Master. Sometimes the impedi- 
ment is curiosity. Some are surprised to hear that 
that is a serious failing, but certainly it is—curiosity 
about the affairs of other people, and especially about 
their occult standing or development. It would be 
quite impossible that a Master should draw near to 
Himself one who had that failing. 

Another common hindrance is readiness to be of- 
fended. Many a good and earnest aspirant is so 
easily offended as to be of practically no use in the 
work, because he cannot get on with other people. He 
will have to wait until he has learnt to adapt himself 
and to cooperate with any person whatever. 

Many people who make the inquiry have failings 
of this kind, and they do not like it if their fault is 
pointed out to them. They do not generally believe 
that they have it, and imagine that we are in error; 
but in rare cases they are willing to profit by the sug- 
gestion. I remember very well a lady coming to me 
in an American city, and asking the question: “What 
is the matter with me? Why may I not draw near to 


Tue Way To THE MASTER 65 


the Master?” “Do you really want to know?” I 
asked. ' 

Yes, certainly, she really wished to know. She 
adjured me to look at her occultly, or clairvoyantly, 
or in any way I wished, at all her vehicles and her 
past lives, and to decide thereby. I took her at her 
word and said, ‘Well, if you really want to know, 
there is too much ego in your cosmos. You are think- 
ing all about yourself and not enough about the 
work.” 

Of course she was terribly offended; she flounced 
out of the room, and said she did not think much of 
my clairvoyance; but that lady had the courage to 
come back two years later and say: “What you told 
me was quite true, and I am going to put it right and 
to work hard at it.” That story has repeated itself 
many times, except that this is the only case in which 
the person came back and acknowledged the fault. 

Self-centeredness is only another form of pride, but 
it is very prominent at the present day. The person- 
ality which we have been building up for many thou- 
sands of years has grown strong, and often self- 
assertive, and it is one of the hardest tasks to reverse 
its attitude and compel it to acquire the habit of 
looking at things from the standpoint of others. One 
must certainly step out of the center of his own circle, 
as I explained in The Inner Life, if he wishes to come 
to the Master. 

It sometimes happens, however, that those who ask 
the question have not any particular outstanding de- 


66 THE MASTERS AND THE PatTH 


fect, and when one looks them over, one can only | 
say, “I do not see any definite reason, any one fault 
which is holding you back, but you will have to grow 
a little all round.” That is an unpalatable thing to 
have to tell a person, but it is the fact; they are not 
yet big enough, and must grow before they will be 
worthy. It requires some strength and bigness to put 
oneself in the same attitude towards the work which 
the Master Himself adopts, because, in addition to 
any defect of our own, we have the whole pressure 
of the thought of the world against us. 

Those who drift along with the current of evolu- 
tion and will reach this stage in the very far distant 
future, will find it much easier, for popular opinion 
at that period will be in harmony with these ideals. 
We have now, however, to resist what the Christian 
would call temptation, the steady pressure of opinion 
from without, for millions of people all round us are 
thinking personal thoughts. To make a stand against 
these needs a real effort, true courage and persever- 
ance. We must doggedly keep to the task, and though 
we may fail again and again we must not lose heart, 
but get up and go on. 

The astral and mental bodies of an aspirant ought 
to be continually exhibiting four or five big and splen- 
did emotions—love, devotion, sympathy, and intellec- 
tual aspiration among them. But instead of a few 
great emotions vibrating splendidly and clearly with 
fine color, one generally sees the astral body spotted 
over with red and brown and gray and black vortices, 


Tue Way To THE MASTER 67 


often a hundred or more. They are somewhat like a 
mass of warts would be on a physical body, prevent- 
ing the skin from being sensitive as it should be. The 
candidate must see to it that these are removed, and 
that the usual tangle of petty emotions is entirely 
combed away. 

There can be no half measures on this Path. Many 
people are in the position of those much-maligned 
individuals Ananias and Sapphira. It will be re- 
membered how they (not at all unnaturally nor in a 
blameworthy manner) wanted to keep something to 
fall back upon, as they were not quite sure that the 
new Christian movement was going to be a success. 
They were very enthusiastic, and wanted to give all 
that they could; but they did feel that it was the 
path of wisdom to keep a little back in case the move- 
ment failed. For that they were not in the least to 
be blamed; but what they did do which was most 
damaging and improper was that, though keeping 
something back they did not admit the fact, but 
pretended that they had given all. There are many 
to-day who follow their example; I hope the story 
is not true, because the Apostle was certainly some- 
what severe upon them. 

We do not give everything, but keep back a little 
bit of ourselves—I do not mean of our money, but 
of personal feeling deep down, which holds us back 
from the Master’s feet. In occultism that will not 
do. We must follow the Master without reserve, not 
saying within, “I will follow the Master so long as 


68 Tue MASTERS AND THE PatTH 


He does not want me to work with such-and-such a | 
person; I will follow the Master so long as all that 
I do is recognized and mentioned in the papers!” We 
must not make conditions. I do not mean that we 
should give up our ordinary physical-plane duties, but 
simply that our whole self should be at the Master’s 
disposal. We must be prepared to yield anything, to 
go anywhere—not as a test, but because the love of 
the work is the biggest thing in our lives. 


Cuapter IV 
PROBATION 


Out of the ranks of earnest students and workers 
of the kind I have already described, the Master has 
on many occasions selected His pupils. But before 
He definitely accepts them He takes special pre- 
cautions to assure Himself that they are really the 
kind of people whom He can draw into intimate con- 
tact with Himself, and that is the object of the stage 
called Probation. When He thinks of a man as a 
possible pupil, He usually asks one who is already 
closely linked with Him to bring the candidate to Him 
astrally. There is not generally much ceremony con- 
nected with this step; the Master gives a few words 
of advice, tells the new pupil what will be expected 
of him, and often, in His gracious way, He may find 
some reason to congratulate him on the work that 
he has already accomplished. 

He then makes a living image of the pupil—that 
is to say, He molds out of mental, astral and etheric 
matter an exact counterpart of the causal, mental, 
astral and etheric bodies of the neophyte, and keeps 
that image at hand, so that He may look at it period- 
ically. Each image is magnetically attached to the 
person whom it represents, so that every variation of 


70 Tue MASTERS AND THE PaTtTH 


thought and feeling in him is accurately reproduced | 
in it by sympathetic vibration, and thus by a single 
glance at the image the Master can see at once 
whether during the period since He last looked at it 
there has been any sort of disturbance in the bodies 
which it represents—whether the man has been losing 
his temper, or allowing himself to be a prey to impure 
feelings, worry, depression or anything of the kind. 
It is only after He has seen that for a considerable 
time no serious excitement has taken’ place in the 
vehicles represented by the image that He will admit 
the pupil into near relation with Himself. 

When the pupil is accepted he must be drawn into 
a unity with his Master closer than anything we can 
imagine or understand; the Master wants to blend 
his aura with His own, so that through it His forces 
may be constantly acting without special attention 
on His part. But a relation so intimate as this can- 
not act in one direction only; if among the vibrations 
of the pupil there are some which would cause dis- 
turbance in the astral and mental bodies of the Adept 
as they react upon Him, such union would be impos- 
sible. The prospective pupil would have to wait un- 
til he had rid himself of those vibrations. A proba- 
tionary pupil is not necessarily better than other peo- 
ple who are not on probation; he is only more suitable 
in certain ways for the Master’s work, and it is ad- 
visable to subject him to the test of time, for many 
people, swept upwards by enthusiasm, appear at first 
to be most promising and eager to serve, but unfor- 


PROBATION Foul 


tunately become tired after a while and slip back. 
The candidate must conquer any emotional failings 
that he may have, and go on steadily working until 
he becomes sufficiently calm and pure. When for 
quite a long time there has been no serious upheaval 
in the living image, the Master may feel that the time 
has come when He can usefully draw the pupil nearer 
to Him. 

We must not think of the living image as recording 
only defects or disturbances. It mirrors the whole 
condition of the pupil’s astral and mental conscious- 
ness, so it should record much of benevolence and joy- 
ousness and should radiate forth peace on earth and 
good will to men. Never forget that not only a 
passive but also an active goodness is always a pre- 
requisite for advancement. To do no harm is already 
much; but remember that it is written of our Great 
Exemplar that He went about doing good. 

If a pupil on probation does something unusually 
good, for the moment the Master flashes a little more 
attention on him, and if He sees fit He may send a 
wave of encouragement of some sort, or He may put 
some work in the pupil’s way and see how he does it. 
Generally, however, He delegates that task to some of 
His senior pupils. We are supposed to offer oppor- 
tunities to the candidate, but to do so is a serious re- 
sponsibility. If the person takes the opportunity, all 
is well; but if he does not it counts as a bad mark 
against him. We should often like to give opportu- 
nities to people, but we hesitate, because although if 


4 THe MASTERS AND THE PATH 


they take them it will do them much good, if they do. 
not take them it will be a little harder to do so next 
time. It will be seen, then, that the link of the pupil 
on probation with his Master is chiefly one of obser- 
vation and perhaps occasional use of the pupil. It 
is not the custom of the Adepts to employ special or 
sensational tests, and in general, when an adult is 
put on probation, he is left to follow the ordinary 
course of his life, and the way in which the living 
image reproduces his response to the trials and prob- 
lems of the day gives quite sufficient indication of 
his character and progress. When from this the Mas- 
ter concludes that the person will make a satisfactory 
disciple, He will draw him nearer and accept him. 
Sometimes a few weeks is sufficient to determine this; 
sometimes the period stretches into years. 

Because the time is exceptional many young people 
have been put on probation in recent years, and their 
parents and the older members of the Society have 
sometimes wondered how it is that, notwithstanding 
their own sincere sacrifices and labors, often extend- 
ing over twenty, thirty or even forty years, they are 
passed over and the young people are chosen. The 
explanation is simple: 

It has been your karma to work all this time pre- 
paring yourself and preparing the way for the com- 
ing of the World-Teacher; and just because you are 
good old members you have attracted some of these 
souls who have been working up to a high level of 
development in previous incarnations, so that they 


PROBATION To 


have been born to you as children; and you must not 
be surprised if you sometimes find that those who in 
the physical body are your children are in other and 
higher worlds far older in development than you are. 
If a boy or a girl suddenly enters into close relations 
with a Master—such relations as you have hardly 
ventured to think of for yourself, even after many 
years of meditation and hard work—do not be aston- 
ished. Your child may be capable of soaring far 
beyond you; but it is just because he has that ca- 
pacity that his birth and education have been en- 
trusted to you, who have been studying and working 
so long on Theosophical lines. In the course of that 
study you should have learned to be the ideal parent 
—the kind of parent required for the body of an 
advanced ego. Instead of being perplexed or sur- 
prised, you should rejoice with exceeding great joy 
that you have been found worthy to train the physical 
footsteps of one who shall be among the saviors of 
the world. 

You may wonder, perhaps, how mere children can 
appreciate the honor which comes to them, can grasp 
the splendor and glory of it all. Do not forget that 
it is the Ego which is initiated, the Ego who is taken 
as a pupil. True, he must obtain such control over 
his lower vehicles that they will be to a certain con- 
siderable extent an expression of him, so that at least 
they will not get in the way of the work which has 
to be done; but it is he, the Ego, who has to do that 
work and to make that development, and you do not 


74 Tue MASTERS AND THE PatTH 


know how much of it he may have already achieved 
in a previous birth. Many of those who are coming 
into incarnation just now are highly evolved souls; it 
is precisely of such highly evolved souls that the great 
group of disciples who will stand around the Lord 
when He shall come must be constituted. Those who 
become pupils early in this life may well have been 
pupils for many years in a previous life, and the 
greatest. privilege that we elder people can have is 
that we find ourselves associated with these young 
ones, for through them we can further the Lord’s work 
on earth by training them to do it more perfectly. 

In the chapter on “Our Relation to Children” in 
The Hidden Side of Things I have dealt at consider- 
able length with what is necessary for the training 
of children, that they may preserve all that is best in 
what they bring from the past and may develop into 
full flower the many beautiful characteristics of their 
nature, which are so generally, alas, ruthlessly de- 
stroyed by uncomprehending elders. There I have 
spoken among other things of the devastating effects 
of fear induced in children by roughness and cruelty: 
but on that subject I should like to add here some 
mention of an experience which illustrates the un- 
speakably terrible results which sometimes follow in 
its wake. Parents who have children of an age to be 
sent to school cannot be too careful and searching in 
their inquiries before they intrust those children to an 
instructor, lest ineradicable harm be done to the little 
ones for whom they are responsible. 


PROBATION 75 


Some time ago a very striking instance of the 
calamity which may in certain cases be brought about 
by such brutality came prominently before my notice. 
I had the very great honor of being present at the 
Initiation of one of our younger members, the Initiator 
on that occasion being the Lord Maitreya Himself. 
In the course of the ceremonial the candidate, as usual, 
had to reply to many questions dealing largely with 
the manner in which help can best be given in certain 
difficult or unusual cases, and a special interrogation 
was added as to whether he forgave and could help 
a certain man who had treated him with terrible 
harshness and cruelty in early childhood. The Initia- 
tor made an image of an aura with the most wonder- 
fully delicate little puffs or touches or shoots of lovely 
color of light playing over its surface, as if it were peep- 
ing out of it, and then drawing in again, and said, 
“Those are the seeds of the highest and noblest qual- 
ities of mankind—fragile, delicate as gossamer, to be 
developed only in an atmosphere of deepest, purest 
love, without one touch of fear or shrinking. He who, 
being otherwise ready, can unfold and strengthen 
them fully may reach Adeptship in that same life. 
That was the fate We had hoped for you, that as a 
great Adept you should have stood beside Me when 
I come to your physical plane; but those to whom I 
intrusted you (because they offered you to My service 
even before birth) allowed you to fall into the hands 
of this person, who was so utterly unworthy of such 
a trust. This was your aura before the blight of his 


76 Tue MASTERS AND THE PatH 


wickedness fell upon you. Now see what his cruelty 
made of you.” 

Then the aura changed and twisted about horribly, 
and when it was still again all the beautiful little 
shoots had disappeared, and in their place were in- 
numerable little scars, and the Lord explained that 
the harm done could not be canceled in the present 
life, and said, “You will still help Me when I come, 
and I hope that in this life you will attain Arhatship; 
but for the final consummation we must wait awhile. 
In our eyes there is no greater crime than thus to 
check the progress of a soul.” 

As the candidate saw this aura writhe and harden, 
saw all its fair promise ruthlessly destroyed by the 
brutality of this man, he felt again for a moment 
what he had to a great extent forgotten—the agony 
of the small boy sent away from home, the ever- 
hovering fear and shrinking, the incredulous horror, 
the feeling of flaming outrage from which there is no 
escape or redress, the sickening sense of utter helpless- 
ness in the grasp of a cruel tyrant, the passionate re- 
sentment at his wicked injustice, with no hope, no 
foothold anywhere in the abyss, no God to Whom to 
appeal; and seeing this in his mind, I who watched 
understood something of the terrible tragedy of child- 
hood, and why its effects are so far-reaching. 

It is not only when approaching Adeptship that this 
most loathsome sin of cruelty to children checks 
progress. All the new and higher qualities which the 
Aryan race should now be unfolding show themselves 


PROBATION (if 


in light and delicate buds of a similar nature, though 
ata lower level than those described above. In thou- 
sands of cases these are ruthlessly crushed out by the 
insensate ferocity of parent or teacher; and thus many 
good people remain at the same level through sev- 
eral incarnations, while their tormentors fall back into 
lower races. There are certainly many egos coming 
into incarnation who, although they fall far short of 
the great heights of Initiation, are nevertheless un- 
folding rapidly, and need now to add to their char- 
acters some of these further and more delicate devel- 
opments; and for the advancement intended for them 
also brutality would be fatal. 

I had not heard until the occasion mentioned above 
that the last life in which Adeptship is attained must 
have absolutely perfect surroundings in childhood; 
but the appropriateness of the idea is obvious when 
once it is put before us. That is probably one reason 
why so few students gain Adeptship in European 
bodies, for we are much behind the rest of the world 
in that particular. It is at any rate abundantly clear 
that nothing but evil can ever follow from this ghastly 
custom of cruelty. Our members should certainly 
work wherever possible for its suppression, and should 
be, as I said in the beginning, most especially careful 
to make certain that no children for whom they are 
in any way responsible shall be in any danger from 
this particular form of crime. 

The Lord Maitreya has frequently been called the 
Teacher of Gods and Men, and that fact is sometimes 


78 Tue MASTERS AND THE PatTH 


expressed in a different way by saying that in the 
great kingdom of the spiritual work He is the minis- 
ter for Religion and Education. It is not only that 
at certain intervals, when He sees it to be desirable, 
He either incarnates Himself, or sends a pupil, to state 
the eternal truth in some new way—as we may put it, 
to found a new religion. Quite apart from that He 
is constantly in charge of all religions, and whatever 
new and beautiful teaching is sent out through any 
of them, new or old, it is always inspired by Him. 
We know little of the methods of world-wide instruc- 
tion which He adopts; there are many ways of teach- 
ing apart from the spoken word; and it is certain that 
it is His constant and daily endeavor to raise the 
intellectual conceptions of millions of angels and of 
men. 

His right-hand man in all this marvelous work is 
His assistant and destined successor, the Master 
Kuthumi, just as the assistant and destined successor 
of the Lord Vaivasvata Manu is the Master Morya. 
Just because, then, the Master Kuthumi is the ideal 
teacher, it is to Him that we have to bring those who 
are to be put on probation or accepted at an early 
age. It may be that later on in life they will be used 
by other Masters for other portions of the work; but 
at any rate they all (or almost all) begin under the 
tutelage of the Master Kuthumi. It has been part 
of my task for many years to endeavor to train along 
the right lines any young person whom the Master 
regards as hopeful; He brings them in contact with 


PROBATION 79 


me on the physical plane, and usually gives brief 
directions as to what qualities He wants developed 
in them, and what instruction should be given to them. 
Naturally He, in His infinite wisdom, does not deal 
with these younger brains and bodies exactly as with 
those of older people. Let me quote from an account 
of the putting on probation some ten years ago of 
three of our young people: 


ENTERING Upon PROBATION 


We found the Master Kuthumi seated on the ver- 
anda of His house, and as I led the young ones for- 
ward to Him, He held out His hands to them. The 
first boy dropped gracefully on one knee and kissed 
His hand, and thenceforward remained kneeling, 
pressing against the Master’s knee. All of them kept 
their eves upon His, and their whole souls seemed to 
be pouring out through their eyes. He smiled on 
them most beautifully and said: 

“T welcome you with peculiar pleasure; you have 
all worked with me in the past, and I hope you will 
do so again this time. I want you to be of Us before 
the Lord comes, so I am beginning with you very 
early. Remember, this that you wish to undertake 
is the most glorious of all tasks, but it is not an easy 
one, because you must gain perfect control over these 
little bodies; you must forget yourselves entirely and 
live only to be a blessing to others, and to do the 
work which is given us to do.” 

Putting His hand under the chin of the first boy 
as he knelt, He said with a bright smile: “Can you 
do that?” 

And they all replied that they would try. Then 
the Master gave some valuable personal advice to 
each in turn, and asked each one separately: ‘Will 


80 Tue MASTERS AND THE PatH 


you try to work in the world under My guidance?” 
And each said: “I will.” 

Then He drew the first boy in front of Him, and 
placed both His hands upon his head, the boy once 
more sinking to his knees. The Master said: 

“Then I take you as My pupil on probation, and I 
hope that you will soon come into closer relationship 
with Me, and therefore I give you My blessing, in 
order that you may pass it on to others.” 

As He spoke, the boy’s aura increased wonderfully 
in size, and its colors of love and devotion glowed with 
living fire; and he said: “O Master, make me really 
good; make me fit to serve you.” 

But the Master smilingly replied: “Only you your- 
self can do that, my dear boy; but My help and bless- 
ing will be ever with you.” 

Then He took the others and went through the same 
little ceremony with each of them, and their auras also 
increased and grew firmer and steadier as they glowed 
responsively in the most marvelous manner. 

Then the Master rose and drew the boys with Him 
saying: ‘Now come with Me, and see what I do.” 

We all trooped together down the sloping path to 
the bridge across the river. He took us into the cave, 
and showed to the boys the living images of all the 
probationary pupils. Then He said: “Now I am 
going to make images of you.” And He materialized 
them before their eyes, and they were naturally tre- 
mendously interested. One of them said in an awed 
voice: “Am I like that?” 

In one of the images there was a patch of reddish 
matter, and the Master said to its original with a 
humorous glance: ‘What is that?” 

“T don’t know,” replied the boy; but I think he 
guessed, for it was the result of an emotional strain 
the night before. The Master pointed out various 
colors and arrangements in the auras, and told them 


PROBATION 81 


what they meant and which He wanted altered. He 
told them that He should look at these images each 
day to see how they were getting on, and He hoped 
that they would so arrange them that they would be 
pleasant to look upon. Then He gave them His final 
blessing. 


In the case of elder people put upon probation, they 
are left to a large extent to find the most suitable 
work for themselves; but with the younger people 
He sometimes quite definitely puts a piece of work 
in the way of one of them and watches to see how he 
does it. He condescends sometimes to give special 
messages of encouragement and instruction to indi- 
viduals among these young people, and even to give 
special advice as to their training. For the guidance 
of other young people who desire to follow along the 
same path extracts from some of those messages are 
given here: 


ApvicE From THE MASTER 


“T know that your one object in life is to serve the 
Brotherhood; yet do not forget that there are higher 
steps before you, and that progress on the Path means 
sleepless vigilance. You must not only be always 
ready to serve; you must be ever watching for oppor- 
tunities—nay, making opportunities to be helpful in 
small things, in order that when the greater work 
comes you may not fail to see it. 

“Never for a moment forget your occult relation- 
ship; it should be an ever-present inspiration to you— 
not only a shield from the fatuous thoughts which float 
around us, but a constant stimulus to spiritual ac- 


82 Tue MASTERS AND THE PaTH 


tivity. The vacuity and pettiness of ordinary life 
should be impossible for us, though not beyond our 
comprehension and compassion. The ineffable bliss 
of Adeptship is not yet yours, but remember that you 
are already one with Those who live that higher life; 
you are dispensers of Their sunlight in this lower 
world, so you, too, at your level, must be radiant suns 
of love and joy. The worid may be unappreciative, 
uncomprehending; but your duty is to shine. 

“Do not rest on your oars; there are still higher 
peaks to conquer. The need of intellectual develop- 
ment must not be forgotten; and we must unfold 
within ourselves sympathy, affection, tolerance. Each 
must realize that there are other points of view than 
his own, and that they may be just as worthy of at- 
tention. All coarseness or roughness of speech, all 
tendency to argumentativeness, must absolutely dis- 
appear; one who is prone to it should check himself 
when the impulse towards it arises; he should say 
little, and that always with delicacy and courtesy. 
Never speak without first thinking whether what you 
are going to say is both kind and sensible. He who 
tries to develop love within himself will be saved 
from many mistakes. Love is the supreme virtue of 
all, without which all other qualifications water but 
the sand. 

“Thoughts and feelings of an undesirable kind must 
be rigorously excluded; you must work at them until 
they are impossible to you. Touches of irritability 
ruffle the calm sea of the consciousness of the Brother- 
hood. Pride must be eliminated, for it is a serious 
bar to progress. Exquisite delicacy of thought and 
speech is needed—the rare aroma of perfect tact which 
can never jar or offend. That is hard to win, yet you 
may reach it if you will. 

“Definite service, and not mere amusement, should 
be your aim; think, not what you want to do, but 


PROBATION 83 


what you can do that will help someone else; forget 
about yourself, and consider others. A pupil must be 
consistently kind, obliging, helpful—not now and then, 
but all the time. Remember, all time which is not 
spent in service (or fitting yourself for service) is for 
us lost time. 

“When you see certain evils in yourself, take them 
in hand manfully and effectively. Persevere, and you 
will succeed. It is a question of will-power. Watch 
for opportunities and hints; be efficient. I am always 
ready to help you, but I cannot do the work for you; 
the effort must come from your side. Try to deepen 
yourselves all round and to live a life of utter devo- 
tion to service. 

“You have done well, but I want you to do better 
yet. I have tested you by giving you opportunities 
to help, and so far you have taken them nobly. I 
shall therefore give you more and greater opportuni- 
ties, and your progress will depend upon your recog- 
nizing them and availing yourself of them. Remem- 
ber that the reward of successful work is always the 
opening out before you of more work, and that faith- 
fulness in what seem to you small things leads to 
employment in matters of greater importance. I hope 
that you will soon draw closer to me, and in so doing 
will help your brothers along the Path which leads 
to the feet of the King. Be thankful that you have 
a great power of love, that you know how to flood 
your world with sunlight, to pour yourself out with 
royal prodigality, to scatter largess like a king; that 
indeed is well, but take care lest in the heart of this 
great flower of love there should be a tiny touch of 
pride, which might spread as does an almost invisible 
spot of decay, until it has tainted and corrupted the 
whole blossom. Remember what our great Brother 
has written: ‘Be humble if thou wouldst attain to 
wisdom; be humbler still when wisdom thou hast mas- 


&4 Tue MASTERS AND THE PATH 


tered.’ Cultivate that modest fragrant plant, hu- 
mility, until its sweet aroma permeates every fiber 
of your being. 

“When you try for unity, it is not enough to draw 
the others into yourself, to enfold them with your 
aura, to make them one with you. To do that is 
already a long step, but you must go yet further, and 
make yourself one with each of them; you must enter 
into the very hearts of your brothers, and understand 
them; never from curiosity, for a brother’s heart is 
both a secret and sacred place; one must not seek to 
pry into it or discuss it, but rather endeavor reverently 
to comprehend, to sympathize, to help. It is easy to 
criticize others from one’s own point of view; it is 
more difficult to get to know them and love them, but 
that is the only way to bring them along with you. 
I want you to grow quickly that I may use you in the 
great Work; to help you in that I give you my 
blessing. 

“Daughter, you have done well in exercising your 
influence to civilize as far as may be the rougher 
elements around you, and to help another pure soul 
upon her way to me. That will be ever a bright star 
in your crown of glory; continue your help to her, and 
see whether there be not other stars which you can 
presently add to that crown. This good work of 
yours has enabled me to draw you closer to me far 
earlier than would otherwise have been the case. 
There is no more certain method of rapid progress 
than to devote oneself to helping others upon the 
upward Path. You have been fortunate, too, in meet- 
ing a comrade from of old, for two who can really 
work together are more efficient than if they were 
putting forth the same amount of strength separately. 
You have begun well; continue to move along the 
same line with swiftness and certainty. 

“T welcome you, the latest recruit to our glorious 


PROBATION 85 


band. It is not easy for you to forget yourself en- 
tirely, to yield yourself without reservation to the 
service of the world; yet that is what is required of 
us—that we should live only to be a blessing to others, 
and to do the work which is given us to do. You have 
made a good beginning in the process of self-develop- 
ment, but much yet remains to be done. Repress 
even the slightest shade of irritability, and be ready 
always to receive advice and instruction; cultivate 
humility and self-sacrifice, and fill yourself with a 
fervid enthusiasm for service. So shall you be a fit- 
ting instrument in the hand of the Great Master, a 
soldier in the army of Those Who save the world. 
To help you in that I now take you as a probationary 


pupil.” 


Many who read these instructions may be surprised 
by their extreme simplicity. They may even despise 
them as being little suited to guide and help people in 
the immense complexity of our modern civilization. 
But he who thinks thus forgets that it is of the es- 
sence of the life of the pupil that he shall lay aside 
all this complexity, that he shall, as the Master put 
it, “come out of your world into ours,” come into a 
world of thought in which life is simple and one- 
pointed, in which right and wrong are once more 
clearly defined, in which the issues before us are 
~ straight and intelligible. It is the simple life that the 
disciple should be living. It is the very simplicity 
which he attains which makes the higher progress 
possible to him. We have made our life an entangle- 
ment and an uncertainty, a mass of confusion, a storm 


86 Tue MASTERS AND THE PatTH 


of cross-currents, in which the weak fail and sink; 
but the pupil of the Master must be strong and sane, 
he must take his life in his own hands, and make it 
simple with a divine simplicity. His mind must brush 
aside all these man-made confusions and delusions 
and go straight as an arrow to its mark. “Except ye 
be converted, and become as little children, ye shall 
in nowise enter into the kingdom of heaven.” And 
the kingdom of heaven, remember, is the Great White 
Brotherhood of the Adepts. (See The Hidden Side of 
Christian Festivals, pp. 12, 446.) 

We see from these extracts how high is the ideal 
which the Master sets before His pupils, and perhaps 
it may seem to some of them to be what in theology 
we call a counsel of perfection—that is to say, a goal 
or condition impossible to reach perfectly as yet, but 
still one at which we must constantly aim. But all 
aspirants are aiming high, and no one yet can fully 
reach that at which he aims; otherwise he would not 
need to be in physical incarnation at all. We are 
very far from being perfect, but the young people who 
can be brought close to the Great Ones have a most 
wonderful opportunity, just because of their youth 
and plasticity. It is so much easier for them to elimi- 
nate those things which are not quite what they should 
be than it is for older people. If they can cultivate 
the habit of taking the right point of view, of acting 
for the right reasons, and of being in the right atti- 
tude the whole of their lives, they will steadily draw 
nearer and nearer to the ideal of the Masters. If the 


ae _ 


PROBATION 87 


pupil who has been put on probation could see while 
awake in his physical body the living images that the 
Master makes he would understand much more fully 
the importance of what may seem to be but minor 
details. 

Irritability is a common difficulty; as I have al- 
ready explained, to be irritable is a thing which is 
hkely enough to happen to anyone living in this pres- 
ent civilization, where people are always very highly 
strung. We live to a large extent in a civilization of 
torturing noises; and above all things noise jars the 
nerves and causes irritation. The experience of going 
down into the city and returning home feeling quite 
shattered and tired is a common one to sensitive peo- 
ple. Many other things are contributory, but prin- 
cipally the weariness is due to the constant noise, and 
the pressure of so many astral bodies vibrating at dif- 
ferent rates, and all excited and disturbed by trifles. 
It makes it very difficult to avoid irritability—espe- 
cially for the pupil, whose bodies are more highly 
strung and sensitive than those of the ordinary man. 

Of course, this irritation is somewhat superficial; 
it does not penetrate deeply; but it is better to avoid 
even a superficial irritation as far as possible, because 
its effects last so much longer than we usually realize. 
If there is a heavy storm, it is the wind that first stirs 
the waves; but the waves will continue to swell long 
after the wind has died down. That is the effect 
produced on water, which is comparatively heavy; 
but the matter of the astral body is far finer than 


88 Tue MASTERS AND THE PaTH 


water, and the vibrations set going penetrate much 
more deeply, and therefore produce a more lasting 
effect. Some slight, unpleasant, temporary feeling, 
which passes out of mind in ten minutes, perhaps, may 
yet produce an effect on the astral body lasting for 
forty-eight hours. The vibrations do not settle down 
again for a considerable period of time. 

When such a fault as this is known it can most 
effectually be removed not by focusing attention upon 
it, but by endeavoring to develop the opposite virtue. 
One way of dealing with it is to set one’s thought 
steadfastly against it, but there is no doubt that this 
course of action arouses opposition in the mental or 
astral elemental, so that often a better method is to 
try to develop consideration for others, based of 
course fundamentally on one’s love towards them. A 
man who is full of love and consideration will not 
allow himself to speak or even to think irritably 
towards them. If the man can be filled with that 
idea the same result will be attained without exciting 
opposition from the elementals. 

There are many other forms of selfishness that can 
delay the pupil’s progress very seriously. Laziness is 
one form of these. I have seen a person enjoying 
himself very much with a book, who did not like to 
leave it in order to be punctual; another will write 
very badly, careless of the inconvenience and the 
damage to eyes and temper of those who have to read 
his caligraphy. All such things tend to make one less 
sensitive to high influences, to make life untidy and 


PROBATION 89 


ugly for other persons, and to destroy self-control and 
efficiency. Efficiency and punctuality are essential, if 
satisfactory work is to be done. Many people are in- 
efficient: when a piece of work is given to them, they 
do not finish it thoroughly, but make all kinds of ex- 
cuses; or when they are asked for some information, 
they do not know how to find it. People differ much 
in this respect. We may ask a question of one, and 
he will answer: “I don’t know;” but another will 
say: ‘Well, I don’t know, but I will go and find out,” 
and he returns with the required information. In the 
same way one person goes to do a thing, and comes 
back and says he could not do it; but another holds 
on until it is done. 

Yet in all good work the pupil must always think 
of the benefit that will result to others and of the 
opportunity to serve the Master in these matters, 
which even when they are small materially are great 
in spiritual value—not of the good karma resulting 
to himself, which would be only another and very 
subtle form of self-centeredness. Remember how 
the Christ put it, “Inasmuch as ye have done it 
unto the least of these my brethren, ye have done 
it unto Me.” 

Other subtle effects of the same kind are to be seen 
in depression and jealousy, and aggressive assertion 
of one’s rights. An Adept has said: “Think less 
about your rights and more about your duties.” 
There are some occasions in dealing with the outside 
world when the pupil might find it necessary gently 


90 Tue MASTERS AND THE PaTH 


to state what he needs, but amongst his fellow-pupils 
there are no such things as rights, but only opportuni- 
ties. If a man feels annoyed, he begins to shoot out 
from himself aggressive feelings; he may not go so 
far as actual hatred, but he is setting up a dull glow 
in his astral body and affecting the mental body as 
well. 

Similar disturbances are frequently set up in the 
mental body, and are equally disastrous in their 
effects. If a man allows himself to be greatly wor- 
ried over some problem, and turns it over and over 
again in his mind without reaching any conclusion, 
he has thereby set up something like a storm in his 
mental body. Owing to the exceeding fineness of the 
vibrations at this level, the word storm only par- 
tially expresses the reality; we should in some ways 
come nearer to the effect produced if we thought of 
it as a sore place in the mental body, as an irritation 
produced by friction. We sometimes encounter argu- 
mentative people, people who must argue about every- 
thing, and apparently love the exercise so much that 
they scarcely care on which side of the problem they 
are engaged. A person of that sort has his mental 
body in a condition of perpetual inflammation, and 
the inflammation is liable on very slight provocation 
to break out at any moment into an actual open sore. 
For such an one there is no hope of any kind of occult 
progress until he has brought balance and common 
sense to bear on this diseased condition. 

Fortunately for us, the good emotions persist even 


PROBATION 91 


longer than the evil, because they work in the finer 
part of the astral body; the effect of a feeling of 
strong love or devotion remains in the astral body 
long after the occasion that caused it has been for- 
gotten. It is possible, though unusual, to have two 
sets of vibrations going on strongly in the astral body 
at the same time—for example, love and anger. At 
the moment of feeling intense anger a man would not 
be likely to have any strong affectionate feeling, un- 
less the anger were noble indignation; in that case the 
after results would go on side by side, but one at a 
much higher level than the other, and therefore per- 
sisting longer. 

It is very natural for boys and girls to wish to enjoy 
themselves, to be merry, to read and to hear amusing 
things, and to laugh at them; that is quite right, and 
it does no harm. If people could see the vibrations 
set up by jovial, kindly laughter, they would realize 
at once that, while the astral body is shaken up to 
some extent, it is the same thing as shaking up the 
liver in riding; it actually does good, not harm. But 
if the results of some of the less pleasant stories that 
foul-minded people are in the habit of telling were 
visible to them they would realize a ghastly differ- 
ence; such things are altogether evil, and the forms 
produced by them remain clinging for a long time to 
the astral body, and attract all kinds of loathsome 
entities. Those approaching the Masters must be 
utterly free from all that, as well as from all that is 
boisterous and rough; and the younger must con- 


92 Tue MASTERS AND THE PaTH 


stantly be on their guard against any relapse into 
childishness or silliness. 

There is sometimes a tendency towards inane gig- 
gling, which must be avoided at all costs, as it has 
a very bad effect on the astral body. It weaves round 
it a web of gray-brown threads, very unpleasant to 
look upon, which forms a layer which hinders the en- 
trance of good influences. It is a danger against 
which young people should sedulously guard them- 
selves. Be as happy and as joyous as you can; the 
Master likes to see it, and it will help you on your 
path. But never for a moment let your joyousness 
be tinged by any sort of roughness or rudeness, never 
let your laughter become a boisterous guffaw; never 
let it, on the other hand, degenerate into silly giggling. 

There is a definite line of demarcation in this, as 
in other matters, between what is harmless and what 
may easily become harmful. The most certain method 
of determining it is to consider whether the amusement 
passes beyond the point of delicacy and good taste. 
The moment that the laughter oversteps these—the 
moment that there is in it the least touch of boister- 
ousness, the moment that it ceases to be perfect in 
its refinement, we are passing on to dangerous ground. 
The inner side of that distinction is that so long as 
the ego is fully in control of his astral body, all is 
well; as soon as he loses control, the laughter becomes 
vacuous and meaningless—the horse is, as it were, 
running away with its rider. An astral body thus left 
unchecked is at the mercy of any passing influence, 


PROBATION 93 


and may easily be affected by most undesirable 
thoughts and feelings. See to it also that your mirth 
is ever pure and clean—never tinged for a moment 
with a malicious delight in the suffering or discom- 
fiture of another. If a mortifying accident should 
happen to someone, do not stand there laughing idly 
at the ridiculous side of the incident, but rush forward 
at once to help and console. Lovingkindness and help- 
fulness must be always your most prominent char- 
acteristics. 

A clairvoyant who can see the effect upon the higher 
bodies of the various undesirable emotions finds no 
difficulty in understanding how important it is that 
they should be controlled. But because most of us 
do not see the result we are liable to forget it, and 
allow ourselves to become careless. The same thing 
is true of the effect produced by casual or thoughtless 
remarks. The Christ in His last incarnation on earth 
is reported to have said that for every idle word that 
men shall speak, they shall give account on the day 
of judgment. That sounds a cruel thing to say, and 
if the orthodox view of judgment were correct, it 
would indeed be unjust and abominable. He did not 
mean in the least that every idle word spoken would 
condemn a man to eternal torture—there is no such 
thing as that; but we know that every word and every 
thought has its karma, its result, and when foolish 
things are repeated again and again, it makes an at- 
mosphere round the person which does keep out good 
influences. To avoid this, constant attention is re- 


94 Tue MASTERS AND THE PaTH 


quired. It would be a superhuman ideal to expect 
a person never to forget himself for a moment; but 
disciples are after all trying to become superhuman, 
because the Master is beyond man. If the pupil 
could live the perfect life he would himself already 
be an Adept; he cannot be that yet, but if he con- 
stantly remembered his ideal he would approach much 
nearer to it. Every idle word that he speaks is cer- 
tainly affecting for the time his relations with the 
Master; so let him watch his words with the utmost 
care. 

Especially is it necessary for the aspirant to avoid 
all fidgetiness or fussiness. Many an energetic and 
earnest worker spoils most of his efforts and makes 
them of no effect by yielding to these failings, for he 
sets up around him such an aura of tremulous vibra- 
tions that no thought or feeling can pass in or out 
without distortion, and the very good that he sends 
out takes with it a shiver that practically neutralizes 
it. Be absolutely accurate; but attain your accuracy 
by perfect calmness, never by hurry or fuss. 

Another point that it is necessary to impress upon 
our students is that in occultism we always mean 
exactly what we say, neither more nor less. When 
a rule is laid down that nothing unkind or critical 
must be said about another, just that is exactly what 
is meant—not that when we happen to think of it 
we should slightly diminish the number of unkind or 
critical things that we say every day, but that they 
must definitely altogether cease. We are so much in 


PROBATION 95 


the habit of hearing various ethical instructions which 
no one seems to endeavor to put seriously into prac- 
tice, that we have a habit of thinking that a perfunc- 
tory assent to an idea, or an occasional feeble effort 
to approximate to it are all that religion requires of 
us. We must put aside that frame of mind altogether 
and understand that exact and literal obedience is 
required when occult instruction is given, whether by 
a Master or by His pupil. 

Very much help in all these matters is often given 
to the aspirant, both probationary and accepted, by 
the presence of an older pupil of the Masters. In the 
early days in India, when a guru selected his chelas, 
he formed them into a group and took them about 
with him wherever he went. Now and then he taught 
them, but often they received no instruction; yet they 
made rapid progress because all the time they were 
within the aura of the teacher and were being brought 
into harmony with it, instead of being surrounded by 
ordinary influences. The teacher also assisted them 
in the building of character, and always watched the 
pupils carefully. Our Masters cannot adopt that 
plan physically, but They have sometimes arranged 
matters so that some of Their elder pupils can draw 
round themselves a group of the younger ones, and 
attend to them individually, much as a gardener 
would deal with his plants, raying upon them day 
and night the influences needed to awaken certain 
qualities or strengthen weak points. The older pupil 
rarely receives direct instructions with regard to this 


96 Tue MASTERS AND THE PaTH 


work; though now and then the Master may make 
some remark or comment. 

The fact that the pupils are together in a group 
also assists their progress; they are influenced in com- 
mon by high ideals, and this hastens the growth of 
desirable characteristics. It is probably inevitable 
in the course of karmic law that one who is aspiring 
shall be brought into contact with someone more ad- 
vanced than himself, and receive much benefit through 
his ability to respond to him; and it is generally the 
fact that the Master does not advance or raise any 
person unless he has been with an older pupil who 
can guide and help him. There are, however, excep- 
tions, and each Master has His own way of dealing 
with His pupils. In one case, it has been said by 
our President, the Master makes a practice of send- 
ing His pupils ‘‘to the other end of the field,” so that 
they may gain great strength by the development of 
their powers with the minimum of external assistance. 
Each individual is treated as is best for him. 


CHAPTER V 
ACCEPTANCE 


Though the acceptance of the pupil by the Master 
produces so great a difference in his life, there is but 
little more of external ceremony attached to it than 
there was in the case of probation. The following 
account of the acceptance of some of our young people 
is given for comparison with the corresponding ac- 
count of probation in the last chapter. 


ACCOUNT OF AN ACCEPTANCE 


Going as usual to the house of our Master Kuthumi, 
we found the Master Morya sitting in earnest con- 
versation with Him. We naturally stood aside for 
a moment, but the Master called us forward with His 
dazzling smile of welcome, and we made the custom- 
ary salutation. 

The first of our candidates, whom his Master had 
once called ‘‘an Ever-glowing Love Star,” is so full 
of love for his Master that he looks upon Him as 
an Elder Brother, and is absolutely free and at home 
with Him, though he never speaks to Him without 
deep reverence. It is indeed beautiful to see them 
together. 

On this occasion our Master smiled kindly upon 


98 Tue MASTERS AND THE PatH 


him and said: ‘Have you finally decided that you 
will work under Me and devote yourself to the serv- 
ice of humanity?” The boy replied very earnestly 
that he meant to do so, and our Master continued: 
“T have been much pleased with the efforts that you 
have made, and I hope that you will not relax them. 
Do not forget under the new conditions what I told 
you a few months ago. Your work and your deter- 
mination have enabled Me to shorten the period of 
your Probation and I am pleased that you have 
chosen the shortest of all roads to progress, that of 
bringing others with you along the Path. Absolutely 
unselfish love is the strongest power in the world, 
but few are they who can keep it pure from exaction 
or jealousy, even if it be for one object alone. Your 
advancement is due to your success in keeping that 
flame burning ardently for several objects simultane- 
ously. You have done much to develop strength, but 
you need still more of it. You must acquire discrim- 
ination and alertness, so that you see what is wanted 
at the right moment, instead of ten minutes after- 
wards. Before you speak or act, think carefully what 
the consequences will be. But you have done re- 
markably well, and I am much pleased with you.” 
Then the Master laid His hand upon the head of 
each of the candidates separately, saying: “I accept 
you as My chela according to the ancient rite.” He 
drew each in turn into His aura, so that for a few 
moments the pupil disappeared in Him, and then 
emerged looking inexpressibly happy and noble, show- 


ACCEPTANCE 99 


ing forth the special characteristics of the’ Master as 
he had never done before. When all this was over 
our Master said to each one, “I give you My bless- 
ing.” And then speaking to all together: ‘Come 
with Me; I must present you in your new character 
for official recognition and registration.” So He took 
them to the Maha-Chohan, Who looked them over 
keenly, and said: ‘You are very young. I congratu- 
late you on reaching such a position so early. See 
that you live up to the level which you have at- 
tained.” And He entered their names in the imper- 
ishable record, showing them the columns opposite 
their names which had still to be filled, and express- 
ing a hope that He might soon have other entries 
to make for them. | 

On the way back from the visit to the Maha- 
Chohan the Master took His new pupils once more 
into the cave near His house, and they watched Him 
dissolve into thin air the living images of themselves 
which He had made a short time before. ‘Now that 
you are actually part of Me all the time,” He said, 
“we shall not need those any longer.” 


If one observes this ceremony with the sight of the 
causal body, one sees the Master as a glorious globe 
of living fire, containing a number of concentric shells 
of color, His physical body and its counterparts on 
other planes being in the center of the glowing mass, 
which extends to a radius of many hundreds of yards. 


100 THe MASTERS AND THE PatH 


In approaching the physical body of the Master, 
the pupil advances into that glowing globe of finer 
material, and when he finally reaches the physical 
feet of his Master he is already in the heart of that 
splendid sphere; and when the Master embraces the 
neophyte as described above, and expands Himself to 
include the aura of the pupil, it is really the central 
heart of fire which so expands and includes him, for 
all through the ceremony of acceptance he is already 
far within the outer ring of that mighty aura. Thus 
for a few moments they two are one and, not only 
does the Master’s aura affect that of the pupil as 
described above, but any special characteristics at- 
tained by the latter act upon the corresponding cen- 
ters of the Master’s aura and that flashes out in 
response. 

The inexpressible union of the pupil with the Mas- 
ter that begins during the ceremony of ‘acceptance 
is a permanent thing, and after that, though the 
pupil may be far distant from the Master on the 
physical plane, his higher vehicles are vibrating in 
common with those of his teacher. He is all the 
time being tuned up, and thus growing gradually 
more and more like his Master, however remote the 
resemblance may have been in the beginning; and 
thus he becomes of great service in the world as an 
open channel by means of which the Master’s force 
may be distributed on the lower planes. By con- 
stant meditation upon his guru, and ardent aspira- 
tion towards Him, the pupil has so affected his own 


ACCEPTANCE 101 


vehicles that they are constantly open towards his 
Master and expectant of His influence. At all times 
they are largely preoccupied with that idea, waiting 
the word of the Master and watching for something 
from Him, so that while they are keenly and sensi- 
tively open to Him they are to a considerable extent 
closed to lower influences.’ Therefore all his higher 
vehicles, from the astral upwards, are like a cup or 
funnel, open above but closed at the sides, and al- 
most impervious to influences touching him at the 
lower levels. 

This tuning-up of the pupil continues throughout 
the period of discipleship. At first his vibrations are 
many octaves below those of the Master, but they 
are in tune with them, and are gradually being raised. 
This is a process that can take place only slowly. 
It could not be done at once, like the stamping out 
of a piece of metal with a die, or even comparatively 
quickly, as one would tune a violin or piano string. 
Those are inanimate things; but in this case a living 
being is to be molded, and in order that the life may 
be preserved, the slow growth from within must adapt 
the form to the outside influence, as a gardener might 
gradually direct the limbs of a tree, or a surgeon with 
proper appliances might gradually straighten a 
crooked leg. 

We know that throughout this process the Master 
is not giving His full attention to each individual 
pupil, but is working upon thousands of people 
simultaneously, and all the time doing much higher 


102 Tue Masters AND THE PaTtTH 


work as well, playing a great game of chess, as it 
were, with the nations of the world and with all the 
different kinds of powers, of angels and men, as pieces 
on the board. Yet the effect is as though He were 
watching the pupil and thinking of no one else, for 
the attention that He can give to one among hundreds 
is greater than ours when we concentrate it entirely 
upon one. The Master often leaves to some of His 
older pupils the work of tuning the lower bodies, 
though He Himself is allowing a constant flow be- 
tween His vehicles and those of His pupil. It is in 
this way that He does most for His pupils, without 
their necessarily knowing anything about it. 

The accepted pupil thus becomes an outpost of the 
Master’s consciousness—an extension of Him, as it 
were. The Adept sees, hears and feels through him, 
so that whatever is done in his presence is done in the 
Master’s presence. This does not mean that the 
Great One is necessarily always conscious of such 
events at the time when they are going on though He 
may be so. He may be absorbed in some other work 
at the time; nevertheless the events are in His mem- 
ory afterwards. What the pupil has experienced with 
reference to a particular subject will come up in the 
Master’s mind among His own knowledge when He 
turns His attention to that subject. 

When a pupil sends a thought of devotion to his 
Master, the slight flash which he sends produces an 
effect like the opening of a great valve, and there is 
a tremendous downflow of love and power from the 


ACCEPTANCE 103 


Master. If one sends out a thought of devotion to 
one who is not an Adept, it becomes visible as a 
fiery stream going to him; but when such a thought 
is directed by a pupil to his Master, the pupil is 
immediately deluged by a stream of fiery love from 
the Master. The Adept’s power is flowing outwards 
always and in all directions like the sunlight; but the 
touch of the pupil’s thought draws down a prodigious 
stream of it upon him for the moment. So perfect 
is the union between them that if there is any serious 
disturbance in the lower bodies of the pupil it will 
affect also those of the Master; and, as such vibra- 
tion would interfere with the Adept’s work on higher 
planes, when this unfortunately happens He has to 
drop a veil that shuts the pupil off from Himself until 
such time as the storm settles down. 

It is of course sad for the pupil when he has to be 
cut off in this manner; but it is absolutely his own 
doing, and he can end the separation at once as soon 
as he can control his thoughts and feelings. Usually 
such an unfortunate incident does not last longer than 
forty-eight hours; but I have known cases much worse 
than that, in which the rift endured for years, and 
even for the remainder of that incarnation. But these 
are extreme cases, and very rare, for it is little likely 
that a person capable of such defection would be re- 
ceived as a pupil at all. 

No one could become an accepted pupil unless he 
had acquired the habit of turning his forces outwards . 
and concentrating his attention and strength upon 


104 THe MASTERS AND THE PATH 


others, to pour out helpful thoughts and good wishes 
upon his fellow-men. Practically all the ordinary 
people in the world turn their forces inwards upon 
themselves, and because they are self-centered their 
forces are jangling together inside. But the pupil has 
to turn himself inside out, and maintain a constant 
attitude of giving in affection and service. We have 
in the pupil, therefore, a man whose higher vehicles 
are a funnel open to the highest influences from his 
Master, while his lower vehicles at the bottom of the 
funnel have been trained into the constant habit of 
radiating those influences out upon others. This 
makes him a perfect instrument for his Master’s use, 
for the translation of His force to the outer planes. 

If an Adept in Tibet wanted to distribute some force 
at the etheric level in New York, it would not be 
economical to direct the current etherically for that 
distance; He would have to transmit His force on 
much higher levels to the point required, and then 
excavate a funnel downwards at that point. Another 
simile which might be suggested is that of the trans- 
mission of electricity at enormous voltages across 
country, and the stepping of it down through trans- 
formers which give great current and low voltage at 
the place where the power is to be used. But to ex- 
cavate such a funnel, or to step the force down at 
New York, would involve a loss to the Adept of nearly 
half of the energy that He had available for the piece 
of work to be done. Therefore the pupil on the spot 
is an invaluable labor-saving apparatus, and he must 





ACCEPTANCE 105 


remember that above all things he must make himself 
a good channel, because that is most of all what the 
Master needs from him. Thus the pupil may be re- 
garded in another way as an additional body for the 
Master’s use in the place where he happens to be. 
Every human body is in reality a transmitter for 
the powers of the self within. Through many ages 
it has been adapted to carry out the commands of the 
will in the most economical manner; for example, if 
we wish for any reason to move or to overturn a tum- 
bler standing upon the table it is easy enough to 
stretch out one’s hand and do so. It is also possible 
to overturn that tumbler by mere force of will with- 
out physical contact; indeed one of the earliest mem- 
bers of the Theosophical Society tried this experi- 
ment and actually succeeded, but only at the expense 
of devoting an hour’s strenuous effort to it every day 
for two years. It is obvious that to use the ordinary 
physical means is in such a case far more economical. 
In the earlier stages of the pupil’s relation with his 
Master, he will often feel that a vast amount of force 
is poured through him, without his knowing where it 
is going; he only feels that a great volume of living 
fire is rushing through him and flooding his neigh- 
borhood. With a little careful attention he can soon 
learn to tell in which direction it is going, and a lit- 
tle later, he becomes able to follow with his con- 
sciousness that rush of the Master’s power, and can 
actually trace it down to the very people who are 
being affected and helped by it. He himself, however, 


106 Tue MASTERS AND THE PaTH 


cannot direct it; he is being used simply as a channel, 
yet is at the same time being taught to cooperate 
in the distribution of the force. Later, there comes 
a time when the Master, instead of pouring force into 
His pupil and aiming it at a person in a distant place, 
tells him to seek out the person and then give him 
some of the force, for this saves the Master some 
energy. Whenever and wherever a pupil can do a 
bit of the Master’s work, He will always give it to 
him, and as the pupil increases in usefulness, more 
and more of the work is put into his hands, so as to 
relieve by however slight an amount the strain upon 
the Master. We think much, and rightly so, about 
the work that we can do down here, but all that we 
can imagine and carry out is as nothing to what He 
is doing through us. There is always a gentle radia- 
tion through the pupil, even though he may not be 
conscious of it, yet the same pupil will feel it dis- 
tinctly whenever an unusual amount of force is being 
sent. : 
Sometimes the Master sends a definite message 
through His pupil to a third party. I remember once 
being told to deliver such a message to a very highly 
intellectual member whom I did not know very well. 
I felt a little embarrassment in approaching him on 
such a subject, but of course I had to do it; so I 
said to the recipient: “I have been told by my Mas- 
ter to give you this. message, and I am simply doing 
as I am told. I am perfectly aware that I cannot 
give you any evidence that this is a message from the 








ACCEPTANCE 107 


Master, and I must leave you to attach to it just as 
much importance as you feel disposed. I have no 
alternative but to carry out my instructions.” Now, 
I was of course conscious of the contents of the mes- 
sage, because I had had to take it down; and I aver 
that on the face of it it was a perfectly simple and 
friendly message, such as might have been sent by 
any kindly person to another, without appearing to 
bear any special significance whatever. But evidently 
appearances were deceptive; the old gentleman to 
whom I delivered it looked much startled, and said: 
“You need not take any trouble to try to persuade 
me that that is a message from your Master; I know 
it instantly from the wording; it would have been 
absolutely impossible for you to know the meaning 
of several of the references that He makes.” But to 
this day:I have no idea what he meant. 

Another most valuable privilege which the accepted 
pupil enjoys is that of laying his thought on any sub- 
ject beside that of his Master, and comparing them. 
It will be readily understood how the frequent use of 
this power will keep the pupil’s thought running along 
noble and liberal lines—how he will constantly be 
able to correct any mistakes, any tendencies towards 
prejudice or lack of understanding. There may be 
various ways in which he can exercise this power; my 
own method was always to lie down in meditation and 
endeavor to reach up into the consciousness of the 
Master just as far as I possibly could. When I had 
reached the highest point that was for the time pos- 


108 Tue MASTERS AND THE PatH 


sible to me, I suddenly turned and looked back as 
it were upon the subject in question, and instantly 
received an impression of how it appeared to the 
Master. It was probably very far from being a per- 
fect impression, but at least it showed me what He 
thought on the matter as far as I was able to enter 
into His thought. 

Care, however, must be taken that this wonderful 
privilege is not misused. It is given to us as a power 
of ultimate reference in questions of great difficulty, 
or in cases where we have no sufficient ground for 
judgment, and yet have to come to some decision; 
but it is by no means intended to save us the trouble 
of thinking, or to be applied to the decision of ordi- 
nary everyday questions which we are perfectly 
competent to settle for ourselves. 

The candidate for Acceptance must necessarily 
watch himself closely. If he has not received any 
direct hint from his Master or from some older pupil 
as to the special failings which he must try to avoid, 
he will do his best to observe these for himself, and 
having once decided upon them or been told of them 
he will exercise unceasing vigilance against them. At 
the same time he should be warned on no account to 
overdo his introspection and allow himself to become 
morbid. The safest of all lines for him to take is to 
concentrate his attention on the helping of others; 
if his mind is full of that thought he will instinctively 
move in the right direction. The desire to fit himself 
thoroughly for that work will impel him to brush all 


ACCEPTANCE 109 


obstacles out of the way, so that without consciously 
thinking of his own development at all, he will yet 
find that it is taking place. 

It is not expected that a pupil shall be actively 
thinking of nothing else but the Master; but it 7s ex- 
pected that the form of the Master shall be ‘always in 
the background of his mind, always within immediate 
reach, always there when needed in the vicissitudes 
of life. Our minds, like bowstrings, cannot be kept 
always taut; reasonable relaxation and change of 
thought is one of the necessities of mental health. 
But the pupil should be exceedingly careful that there 
is no slightest tinge of impurity or unkindness about 
his relaxation; no thought should ever be permitted, 
even for a moment, which the pupil would be ashamed 
that his Master should see. 

There is no harm whatever in reading a good novel 
for the sake of diversion; the thought-forms engen- 
dered by it would not in any way interfere with the 
current of the Master’s thought; but there are many 
novels full of evil insinuation, novels which bring 
impure thought-forms before the mind, novels which 
glorify crime, and others which concentrate the 
thought of their readers on the most unsavory prob- 
lems of life, or vividly depict scenes of hatred and 
cruelty; all such should be rigorously avoided. In 
the same way, there is no harm in taking part in or 
watching all ordinary games which are fairly played; 
but any which are rough and boisterous, any in which 
any sort of cruelty is involved, any in which there is 


110 Tue Masters AND THE PatTH 


likelihood of injury to man or beast—all these are 
absolutely barred. 

The pupil must make up his mind that with regard 
to his efforts towards self-improvement he will never 
allow himself to be discouraged by failure, even 
though it be often repeated. However many times 
he may have failed in his effort, however many falls 
he may have on the path he sets before himself, there 
is exactly the same reason for getting up and going 
on after the thousandth fall that there was after the 
first. In the physical plane there are many things 
which are frankly impossible; but that is not the 
case in the higher worlds. We cannot lift a ton 
weight without machinery, but in the higher worlds it 
is possible with perseverance to lift the weight of our 
many imperfections. The reason for this is obvious 
if we think. Human muscles are not so constructed 
as to be able to lift a ton, and no conceivable training 
of them could enable them to do it, because the force 
behind them is limited. In spiritual matters, the 
man has behind him the whole divine power on which 
he can draw, and so little by little and by repeated 
efforts he may, and furthermore certainly will, be- 
come strong enough to overcome any obstacle. 

People often say: “I can deal with things on the 
physical plane, but on the astral and mental I can do 
very little; it is so difficult.’ That is the reverse of 
the truth. They are not accustomed to thinking and 
working in that finer matter, and so they believe that 
they cannot. But as soon as their will is set, they 


ACCEPTANCE 111 


will find that things will follow the direction of that 
will in a way impossible in the physical world. 

Some pupils have found themselves much helped in 
this work by the use of a talisman or amulet. That 
may be a very real aid since the physical nature has 
to be dealt with and brought into subjection, as well 
as the mind and the emotions, and it is without doubt 
the hardest to deal with; a talisman strongly charged 
with magnetism for a particular purpose by someone 
who knows how to do it may be an invaluable help, 
as I have explained at considerable length in The 
Hidden Side of Things. Many people hold themselves 
superior to such things, and say that they need no 
help; but for myself I have found the task so arduous 
that I am glad to avail myself of any assistance that 
may be offered to me. 


Cuapter VI 
OTHER PRESENTATIONS 


All this while the Adept, besides using His pupil 
as an apprentice, has been preparing him for presen- 
tation to the Great White Brotherhood for Initiation. 
The whole object of the existence of that Brotherhood 
is to promote the work of evolution, and the Master 
knows that when the pupil is ready for the stupen- 
dous honor of being received as a member of it he 
will be of very much more use in the world than 
before. Therefore it is His wish to raise His pupil 
to that level as soon as possible. In the Oriental 
books on the subject, written thousands of years ago, 
are to be found many accounts of this preparatory 
period of instruction; and when reference has been 
made to it in the earlier Theosophical literature it 
has been called the Probationary Path—the term re- 
ferring not to probation to any individual Adept, but 
a course of general training preparatory to Initiation. 
I myself used the term in /nvisible Helpers, but have 
lately avoided it on account of the confusion caused 
by the employment of the same word in two distinct 
senses. 

The method really adopted is readily comprehen- 
sible, and is in fact much like that of some of our 


a a ——— 


~~ td 


OE AS er Dames 


OTHER PRESENTATIONS 113 


older universities. If a student wishes to take a 
degree at one of those he must first pass the entrance 
examination of the university and then be admitted 
to one of the colleges. The Head of that college is 
technically responsible for his progress, and may be 
regarded as his tutor-in-chief. The man will have 
to work to a large extent by himself, but the Head 
of his college is expected to see that he is properly 
prepared before he is presented to take his degree. 
The Head does not give the degree; it is conferred 
by that abstraction called the university—usually at 
the hands of its Vice-Chancellor. It is the university, 
not the Head of the college, that arranges the exam- 
ination and confers the various degrees; the work of 
the Head of the college is to see that the candidate is 
duly prepared, and generally to be to some extent 
responsible for him. In the process of such prepara- 
tion he may, as a private gentleman, enter into what- 
ever social or other relations with his pupil he may 
think proper; but all that is not the business of the 
university. 

Just in the same way the Great White Brotherhood 
has nothing to do with the relations between a Mas- 
ter and His pupil; that is a matter solely for the 
private consideration of the Master Himself. The 
Initiation is given by an appointed member of the 
Brotherhood in the Name of the One Initiator; that 
is the only way in which an Initiation can be ob- 
tained. Whenever an Adept considers that one of 
His pupils is fit for the first Initiation, He gives no- 


114 Tue MASTERS AND THE PATH 


tice of that fact and presents him for it; the Brother- 
hood asks only whether the man is ready for Initia- 
tion, and not what is the relationship between him 
and any Adept. It is not Their affair whether he is 
at the stage of probation, acceptance or sonship. At 
the same time it is true that a candidate for Initia- 
tion must be proposed and seconded by two of the 
higher members of the Brotherhood—that is to say, 
by two Who have reached the level of Adeptship; and 
it is certain that no Master would propose a man for 
the tests of Initiation unless He had with regard to 
him the certainty of his fitness, which could only 
come from very close identification with his con- 
sclousness. ; 

The Probationary Path is thus a stage leading up 
to the Path proper, which begins at the first Initia- 
tion. In the Oriental books both these Paths are 
described quite impersonally, as though no private 
Masters existed. The questions are first raised: 
“How is a man living in the ordinary world brought 
to this Probationary Path, and how does he come to 
know that such a thing exists?” In the books we are 
told that there are four reasons, any one of which 
may bring a man to the commencement of the Path 
of development. First, by being in the presence of, 
and getting to know, those who are already interested 
along that line. Some of us, for example, may have 
been monks or nuns in the Middle Ages. We may 
have come into contact in that life with an abbot or 
abbess who had deep experience of the inner world— 





OTHER PRESENTATIONS 115 


a person like St. Theresa. We may, looking up to 
that leader, have earnestly wished that such expe- 
rience should come to us; and our wish for that might 
have been quite unselfish. It may be that we did not 
think of the importance that would come to us or of 
the satisfaction of achievement, but simply of the joy 
of helping others, as we saw the abbot able to help 
others through his deeper discernment. Such a feeling 
in that life would certainly bring us in the next in- 
carnation into touch with teaching on the subject. 

It happens that, in lands which have the European 
culture, almost the only way in which we can get 
the inner teaching put clearly before us is by coming. 
into the Theosophical Society, or by reading Theo- 
sophical works. There have been mystical or spiritu- 
alistic works which have given some information, 
which have gone a long way, but there are none, so: 
far as I know, which state the case so clearly, so 
scientifically, as the Theosophical literature has done. 
I know of no other book which contains such a wealth 
of information as The Secret Doctrine. 

There are, of course, the sacred books of the Hindus. 
and of other nations, and there is a great deal on this 
subject in those, but it is not put in a way which 
makes it easy for us, with our training, to assimilate 
it or to appreciate it. When, having read Theosoph- 
ical books, we take up some of those beautiful trans- 
lations of Oriental works, we can see our Theosophy 
in them. In the Christian Bible (though that is in 
many places not well translated from our point of 


116 Tue MASTERS AND THE PaTH 


view) we shall find a great deal of Theosophy; but 
before we can find it we must know the system. 
When we have studied Theosophy we see at once how 
many texts support it, and cannot rationally be ex- 
plained without it; we see how Church ceremonies, 
before apparently meaningless, leap into life under 
the illumination of the teaching, and become vivid 
and full of interest. Yet I never heard of anyone 
who was able to deduce the Theosophical system from 
either the texts or the ceremonies. 

So one way of approaching the Path is by being 
with those who are already treading it. Another way 
is by reading or hearing about it. All this teaching 
came to me in 1882 through Mr. Sinnett’s book, The 
Occult World; and immediately after that I read his 
second book, Esoteric Buddhism. I knew at once 
instinctively that what was written was true, and I 
accepted it; and to hear and to read about it at once 
fired me with the desire and the determined inten- 
tion to know more, to learn all I could on the subject, 
to pursue it all over the world if necessary until I 
found it. Shortly after that I gave up my position 
in the Church of England and went out to India, 
because it seemed that more could be done there. 

Those are two ways in which people are led to the 
Path—by reading and hearing of it, and by being in 
close association with those who are already treading 
it. The third way which is mentioned in Oriental 
books is by intellectual development; by sheer force 
of hard thinking a man may come to grasp some of 


OTHER PRESENTATIONS ji By 


these principles, though I think that method is rare. 
Again, they tell us of a fourth way—that by the long 
practice of virtue men may come to the beginning of 
the Path—that a man may so develop the soul by 
steadily practicing the right so far as he knows it that 
eventually more and more of the light will open before 
him. 

Forty years ago, when the Qualifications for the 
Path were first put before me from the Esoteric 
Buddhist point of view, they were given as follows: 
The first of them, Discrimination, called by the 
Hindus, Viveka, was described as Manodvaravajjana, 
which means the opening of the doors of the mind, or 
perhaps escaping by the door of the mind. That is a 
very interesting way of putting it, since Discrimina- 
tion arises from the fact that our minds have been 
opened in such a way that we can understand what 
is real and what unreal, what is desirable and what 
undesirable, and can distinguish between the pairs of 
opposites. | 

The second qualification, Desirelessness, known as 
Vairagya among the Hindus, was taught to me as 
Parikamma, meaning preparation for action, the idea. 
being that we must prepare ourselves for action in 
the occult world by learning to do right purely for 
right’s sake. This involves the attainment of a con- 
dition of higher indifference in which one certainly 
no longer cares for the results of action; and so it 
comes to mean the same thing as Desirelessness, 
though it is put from a different point of view. 


118 Tur MASTERS AND THE PatTu 


The Six Points of Good Conduct, called Shatsam- 
patti in the Hindu scheme, were given as Upacharo, 
which means attention to conduct. For the conveni- 
ence of the student who would like to compare the 
Six Points with those given in At the Feet of the 
‘Master I will reprint here what I said about them in 
Invisible Helpers. 

These are called in Pali: 


(a) Samo (quietude)—that purity and calmness of thought 
which comes from perfect control of the mind—a qualification 
exceedingly difficult of attainment, and yet most necessary, 
for unless the mind moves only in obedience to the guidance 
of the will, it cannot be a perfect instrument for the Master’s 
work in the future. This qualification is a very comprehen- 
sive one, and includes within itself both the self-control and 
the calmness necessary for astral work. ~ 

(b) Damo (subjugation)—a similar mastery over, and 
therefore purity in, one’s actions and words—a quality which 
again follows necessarily from its predecessor. 

(c) Uparati (cessation)—explained as cessation from big- 
otry or from belief in the necessity of any act or ceremony 
prescribed by a particular religion—so leading the aspirant to 
independence of thought and to a wide and generous tolerance. 

(d) Titikkha (endurance or forbearance)—by which is 
meant the readiness to bear with cheerfulness whatever one’s 
karma may bring upon one, and to part with anything and 
everything worldly whenever it may be necessary. It also 
includes the idea of complete absence of resentment for wrong, 
the man knowing that those who do him wrong are but in- 
struments of his own karma. 

(e) Samadhana_ (intentness)—one-pointedness, involving 
the incapability of being turned aside from one’s path by 
temptation. 

(f) Saddha (faith)—confidence in one’s Master and oneself: 
confidence, that is, that, the Master is a competent teacher, and 
that, however diffident the pupil may feel as to his own powers, 
he has yet within him that divine spark which, when fanned 
into a flame, will one day enable him to achieve even as his 
Master has done. 





OTHER PRESENTATIONS | 119 


The fourth qualification in the Hindu classification 
is called Mumukshatva, usually translated as an ar- 
dent longing for liberation from the wheel of births 
and deaths, while among the Buddhists the name 
given to it is Anuloma, which means direct order or 
succession, signifying that its attainment follows as 
a natural consequence from the other three. 

From this comparison of the different systems it 
will be seen that the qualifications which the aspirant 
must develop preparatory to the first great Initiation 
are fundamentally the same, however much they may 
appear to differ at first glance. Certainly for twenty- 
five centuries, and probably for a long time before 
that, this quite systematic procedure has been fol- 
lowed with regard to the evolution of those special 
persons who persist in struggling ahead, and although 
at certain times, (and the present is one of them) 
circumstances are more favorable for Initiation than 
at others, the requirements remain the same, and we 
must be careful not to fall into the erroneous thought 
that the qualifications have been in any way reduced. 
We thus find that these different lines all bring us 
to the same point of Initiation. 


Cuapter VII 
THE FIRST INITIATION 


Most people when they think of Initiation have in 
mind a step to be gained for themselves. They think 
of the Initiate as a man who has developed himself 
very highly, and has become a great and glorious 
figure, as compared with the man of the outer world. 
That is true; but the whole question will be better 
understood if we try to look down on it from a higher 
point of view. The importance of Initiation does not 
lie in the exaltation of an individual, but in the fact 
that he has now become definitely one with a great 
‘Order, the Communion of Saints, as it is very beau- 
tifully put in the Christian Church, though few ever 
pay attention to the real meaning of those words. 

The stupendous reality that lies behind Initiation 
into the Brotherhood will be better understood after 
we have considered the organization of the Occult 
Hierarchy and the work of the Masters, to be dealt 
with in later chapters. The Candidate has now be- 
come more than an individual man, because he is a 
unit in a tremendous force. On every planet the Solar 
Logos has His Representative acting as His Viceroy. 
On our globe the title given to this great Official is 
the Lord of the World. He is the Head of the Broth- 





. 
; 


Tue First INITIATION 121 


erhood; and the Brotherhood is not only a body of 
Men each of Whom has His own duties to perform; 
it is also a stupendous unity—a fully flexible instru- 
ment in the Lord’s hand, a mighty weapon that He 
can wield. There is a marvelous and incomprehen- 
sible plan by which the One, having become many, 
is now becoming One again; not that any unit in the 
whole scheme will lose the least fraction of his indi- 
viduality or power as a unit, but that he has added 
to it something a thousand times greater; he is part 
of the Lord, part of the body that He wears, of the 
weapon that He uses, the organ upon which He plays, 
the implement with which He does His work. 

In all the world there is but One Initiator, but in 
the case of the first and second Initiations it is open 
to Him to depute some other Adept to perform the 
ceremony for Him, though even then that Officiant 
turns and calls upon the Lord at the critical moment 
of the conferring of the degree. This is a very won- 
derful moment in the candidate’s spiritual life, as was 
explained by the Master Kuthumi when accepting a 
pupil not long ago. He said to him: 

“Now that you have attained the immediate goal 
of your aspiration, I would exhort you at once to 
turn your attention to the far greater requirements of 
the next step. That for which you have now to pre- 
pare, the ‘entering upon the stream’ which the Chris- 
tians call Salvation, will be the salient point in the 
long line of your earthly existences, the culmination 
of seven hundred lives. Ages ago, by individualiza- 


122 Tue MASTERS AND THE PaTH 


tion, you entered the human kingdom; in a future 
which I trust is not remote, you will quit it by the 
door of Adeptship, and become a Superman; between 
these two extremes is no point of greater importance 
than that Initiation towards which you should now 
turn your thoughts. Not only will it make you safe 
forever, but it will admit you to that Brotherhood 
which exists from eternity unto eternity—the Broth- 
erhood which helps the world. 

“Think then with how great care so wondrous an 
event should be approached. I would have you keep 
the glory and the beauty of it constantly before your 
mind, that you may live in the light of its ideals. 
Your body is young for so mighty an effort, but you 
have a rare and splendid opportunity; I want su to 
take it to the full.” 

When an ego is initiated he becomes part of the 
closest organization in the world, one with the great 
sea of consciousness of the Great White Brotherhood. 
For a long time the new Initiate will not be able to 
understand all that this union implies, and he must 
penetrate far into the sanctuaries before he can real- 
ize how close is the link, and how great is that con- 
sciousness of the King Himself, which all Brothers to 
a certain extent share with Him. It is incomprehen- 
sible and inexpressible down here; metaphysical and 
subtle it is beyond words, but nevertheless a glorious 
reality, real to such an extent that when we begin to 
grasp it everything else seems unreal. 

We have seen how the accepted pupil may lay his 





Tue First INITIATION 123 


thought beside that of the Master; so now may the 
Initiate put his thought beside that of the Brother- 
hood and draw into himself just as much of that tre- 
mendous consciousness as he at his level is able to 
respond to; and ever as he draws it into himself he 
will be able to receive more of it, and his own con- 
sciousness will widen out so that narrowness. of 
thought will become impossible for him. And just as 
the accepted pupil must take care not to cause dis- 
turbance in the lower vehicles of the Master, lest he 
should interfere with the perfection of His work, so 
must a member of the Brotherhood never introduce 
anything discordant into that mighty consciousness, 
which is acting as a whole. 

He must remember that not by any means the 
whole of the Brotherhood is doing the same work as 
our Masters. Many of Them are engaged in other 
work which requires the utmost concentration and the 
most perfect calm, and if some of the younger mem- 
bers should sometimes forget their high calling, and 
cause ripples of annoyance to disturb the Brother- 
hood, it would affect the work of those Greater Ones. 
Our own Masters might perhaps overlook that, and be 
willing to endure a little occasional worry of that kind 
for the sake of the future when the new member will 
be making really great use of the powers of the 
Brotherhood; but we can quite understand that Those 
Who have nothing to do with the training of indi- 
viduals might say: ‘Our work is being disturbed, and 
it is better that those who have such immature per- 


124 Tue Masters AND THE PaTH 


sonalities should stay outside.”’ They would say that 
nothing was lost, that progress can be made just as 
well outside, and that pupils could go on making 
themselves better and stronger and wiser before gain- 
ing Initiation. : 

So wonderful is the expansion of the Initiate’s con- 
sciousness that it is most apt to speak of the change 
as a new birth. He begins to lead a new life “as a 
little child,” the life of the Christ; and the Christ, the 
intuitional or buddhic consciousness, is born within 
his heart. He has also now the power to give the 
blessing of the Brotherhood—a tremendous and over- 
whelming force, which he is able to give or send to 
any one, as he judges to be most appropriate and 
useful. The power of the Brotherhood will flow 
through him just as much as he will let it flow; it is 
for him to use the power and to remember that he has 
the entire responsibility of directing it for whatever 
purpose he may choose. The blessing given by the 
Officiant at Initiation means, ‘I bless you; I pour my 
force and blessing into you; see that you in your turn 
constantly pour out this blessing to others.” 

The more confidence the new Initiate has the 
greater will be the flow of force through him. If he 
feels the least hesitation, or is weighed down by the 
responsibility of letting such a tremendous power flow 
through him, he will not be able to use this wonderful 
gift to the full; but if he has that qualification of 
Sraddha—perfect trust in his Master and in the 
Brotherhood, and the utter certainty that because he 





Tue First INITIATION 125 


is one with Them all things are possible to him, he 
may go through the world as a veritable Angel of 
light, shedding joy and benediction. around his path. 

The consciousness of the Great White Brotherhood 
is an indescribably wonderful thing. It is like a great 
calm shining ocean, so strangely one that the least 
thrill of consciousness flashes from end to end of it 
instantaneously, and yet to each member it seems to 
be absolutely his own individual consciousness, though 
with a weight and a power and a wisdom behind it 
that no single human consciousness could ever have. 
As the band of pupils is all one in the Master, so is 
the Brotherhood all one in its Lord. The members 
may freely discuss a point among themselves, yet it 
is as though different aspects of a case presented 
themselves in the same mind and were by that mind 
weighed one against the other; but one is all the time 
in the presence of a tremendous, an almost awful 
serenity, a certainty which nothing can ever disturb. 
And yet somehow in all that every suggestion is wel- 
comed; indeed, there is the sensation that the whole 
Brotherhood is alertly and eagerly waiting for each 
individual’s contribution to the subject before it. 
There is nothing down here to which this conscious- 
ness can be adequately compared; to touch it is to 
come into contact with something new and strange, 
yet inexpressibly wonderful and beautiful, something 
which needs no evidence and no comparison, but 
asserts itself to be of a higher and unknown world. 

Though individualities are so strangely merged in 


126 Tue MASTERS AND THE PaTH 


this, yet are they at the same time sharply separated, 
for the assent of each Brother is required to every 
decision of importance. The rule of the King is © 
absolute, yet He carries His vast council with Him, 
and is at every moment willing to consider any point 
that occurs to any member of it. But this great 
governing body differs utterly from any parliament 
of earth. Those who stand above the rest in positions 
of authority have not been elected, nor have they been 
appointed by some party organization; they hold their 
positions because they have won them—won them by 
superior development and greater wisdom. None 
doubts the decision of his superior, because he knows 
that he really 7s a superior—that he has greater in- 
sight and a fuller power to decide. There is, there 
can be, no shadow of compulsion that these Super- 
men shall think or act alike; yet is their confidence 
in their mighty organization so perfect that it is un- 
thinkable that in the long run they should differ; 
it is only in the case of such a Brotherhood under 
such a King that we can fully realize the beautiful 
wording of one of the Collects of the Church of 
England, “In His service is perfect freedom.” 

In such an organization there should surely be no 
possibility of failure or trouble of any sort; and yet, 
because humanity is frail, and because not all mem- 
bers of this great Brotherhood are yet Supermen, 
failures do sometimes occur, although they are very 
rare. “Great ones fall back even from the threshold, 
unable to sustain the weight of their responsibility, 


THE First INITIATION 127 


unable to pass on,” as is said in Light on the Path, 
and only the attainment of Adeptship insures perfect 
safety. The Initiator tells the candidate that now he 
has entered upon the stream he is safe forever; but 
although that is so, it is still possible for him to delay 
his progress to a most serious extent, if he yields to 
any of the temptations that still beset his path. To 
be safe forever is usually taken to betoken the cer- 
tainty of passing onward with the present life-wave— 
of not being left behind at the “day of judgment’ 
which comes in the middle of the fifth Round, when 
the Christ Who has descended into matter decides 
what souls can and what souls cannot be carried on 
to final attainment in this chain of worlds. There is 
no eternal condemnation; it is, as the Christ said, 
simply szonian; there are some who cannot go on in 
this age or dispensation, but they will follow along 
in the next, precisely as a child who is too dull to 
succeed in this year’s class will drift comfortably 
along in next year’s, and will probably even be at the 
head of it. 

When the sad and terrible thing does occur—when 
there is a failure of any sort among Initiates, a thrill 
of pain runs through the whole of that vast conscious- 
ness, for the separation of one from the rest is of the 
nature of a veritable surgical operation, tearing the 
heart strings of all. Yet the erring Brother cannot 
finally fall away; there is a link that cannot be 
broken, although we know little of the weary road 
of trial and suffering that he must tread before he 


128 Tue Masters AND THE PaTH 


can again weld it together with the rest. ‘‘The Voice 
of the Silence remains within him, and though he 
leave the path utterly, yet one day it will resound, 
and rend him asunder, and separate his passions from 
his divine possibilities. Then with pain and desperate 
cries from the deserted lower self, he will return.” 

As in previous chapters, I give here an account of 
the ceremonial adopted. Its formula has been un- 
changed throughout the ages, yet there is a certain 
elasticity about it. The Initiator’s Charge to the 
candidate is always the same so far as the first part 
of it goes, but almost invariably there is a second and 
personal part which consists practically of advice to 
the particular candidate who is going through. This 
is usually called the private part of the Charge. I 
have also seen instances in which an image is made of 
the candidate’s worst enemy and he is asked how he 
would deal with him, whether he is fully prepared 
to forgive him absolutely, and whether he would help 
even one so low as this if it came in his way. In 
some cases also questions are asked as to the work 
already done by the candidate, and those who have 
been helped by him are sometimes invited to come 
forward and bear witness. 


AN ACCOUNT OF THE First INITIATION 


As the Wesak Festival was this year (1915) on the 
morning of May 29th, the night of May 27th was 
chosen for the Initiation of the candidate, and we were 
all instructed to hold ourselves in readiness. In this 


Tue First INITIATION 129 


case the Lord Maitreya was the Initiator, and conse- 
quently the ceremony took place in His garden. When 
the Master Morya or the Master Kuthumi performs 
the rite it is usually held in the ancient cave-temple, 
the entrance to which is near the bridge across the 
river between Their houses. There was a large gath- 
ering of the Adepts, all Those Whose names are fa- 
miliar to us being present. The glorious garden was 
at its best; the rhododendron bushes were one blaze 
of crimson blossom, and the air was fragrant with the 
scent of the early roses. The Lord Maitreya sat in 
His usual place on the marble seat which runs round 
the great tree in front of His house; and the Masters 
grouped Themselves in a semicircle on His right and 
left, on seats which were placed for Them on the 
grass terrace from which the marble seat rises by a 
couple of steps. But the Lord Vaivasvata Manu and 
the Maha-Chohan sat also on the marble seat, One 
on each side of the arms of the specially raised carved 
_ throne which faces exactly south, which is called the 
Throne of Dakshinamurti. 

The candidate, with the Master who introduced 
him, stood on the next stage of the terrace, at the feet 
of the Lord, and behind and below them were other 
pupils, initiated and uninitiated, and a few privileged 
spectators who were allowed to see a good deal of the 
ceremony, though at certain times a veil of golden 
light hid from them the proceedings of the central 
figures. The candidate was, as always, dressed in 
flowing robes of white linen, while the Masters were 


130 Tue Masters AND THE PatH 


mostly clad in white silk, deeply edged with magnifi- 
cent gold embroidery. A great host of Angels floated 
above the group, filling the air with a soft ripple of 
melody, which, in some strange and subtle way, 
seemed to draw out of the chord of the candidate an 
intricate interwoven web of sound, expressing his 
qualities and possibilities; throughout the ceremony 
this went singing on, delicately supporting all words 
that were spoken, and no more interrupting them than 
the soft laughter of a stream interrupts the thrilling 
music of the birds, but swelling to a triumphant 
climax at certain points of the ritual. The music 
made the air vocal—enriching, not drowning, the 
tones of the speakers. In every case this music is 
founded upon the special chord of each candidate, 
and weaves variations and fugues upon it, expressing, 
in a way that we down here cannot comprehend, all 
that he is and all that he will be. 

In the center of the scene stood the candidate, be- 
tween his Proposer and Seconder. He was led for- 
ward by his own Master Kuthumi, and the Master 
Jesus stood as his Seconder. The Lord Maitreya 
smiled as He asked the opening question of the ritual: 

“Who is this that you thus bring before Me?” 

Our Master gave the usual reply: 

“This is a candidate who seeks admission to the 
great Brotherhood.” 

Then came the next question: 

“Do you vouch for him as dibs of admission?” 

And the usual answer: 


Tue First INITIATION pra sl 


wilt do.” 

“Will you undertake to guide his steps along the 
Path which he desires to enter?” 

And the Proposer said: “TI will.” 

“Our rule requires that two of the higher Brethren 
shall vouch for every candidate; is any other Brother 
prepared to support this application?” 

Then for the first time the Seconder spoke, saying: 

“T am prepared to do so.” 

The Initiator asked: 

“You have evidence that if additional powers are 
conferred upon him, they will be used for the further- 
ance of the Great Work?” 

And the Master Kuthumi replied: 

“This candidate’s life this time has been short, but 
even already he has many good deeds to his credit, 
and he is beginning to do our work in the world. Also 
in his life in Greece he did much to spread my phil- 
osophy, and to improve the country in which he lived.” 

And the Master Jesus added: 

“Through two lives of vast influence he patiently 
did my work, righting wrong and introducing a noble 
ideal in his life as a ruler, and spreading abroad the 
teaching of love and purity and unworldliness in his 
incarnation as a monk. For these reasons I stand by 
his side now.” 

Then the Lord, smiling upon the boy, said: 

“The body of this candidate is the youngest that 
has ever been presented to us for the honor of recep- 
tion into the Brotherhood; is any member of our 


132 Tue Masters AND THE PATH 


Brotherhood who still lives in the outer world ready 
to give him on our behalf such help and counsel as 
his young physical body may need?” 

Sirius came forward from a group of pupils who 
stood behind, and said: 

“Lord, in so far as I am able, and while I remain 
within reach of his body, I will most gladly do for 
him all that I possibly can.’’ 

Then said the Lord: 

“Ts your heart full of true brotherly love for this 
young candidate, so that you can give such guidance 
as should be given?” 

Sirius answered: “It is.’ 

The Lord spoke for the first pig directly to the 
candidate: 

“Do you in turn love this brother, so that you will 
willingly be helped by him when necessary?” 

And the young man replied: 

“Indeed I do, with all my heart, for without him 
I could not have stood here.” 

The Lord bowed His head gravely, and the Mas- 
ters put the candidate forward so that he stood before 
the Initiator. Fixing His eyes upon him, the Lord 
said: 

“Do you desire to join the Brotherhood which 
exists from eternity unto eternity?” 

The youth replied: 

“T do, Lord, if you think that I am fit to do so while 
my body is still so young.” 

The Initiator asked: 





Tun First Inrriation 133 


“Do you know the object of this Brotherhood?” 

The candidate answered that its object is to do 
God’s Will by carrying out His plan, which is evolu- 
tion. 

Then said the Lord: 

“Will you pledge yourself to devote ait your life 
and all your strength henceforth to this work, for- 
getting yourself absolutely for the good of the world, 
making your life all love, even as He is all love?” 

And he answered: 

“T will endeavor to do so to the utmost of my 
ability, with the help of my Master.” 

“Do you promise to keep secret those things which 
you are told to keep secret?” 

And he said: “I promise.” 

The usual questions as to astral knowledge and 
astral work were then put to the candidate. Many 
astral objects were shown to him and-he had to tell 
the Initiator what they were. He had to distinguish 
between the astral bodies of a living man and a dead 
man, between a real person and a thought-image of 
a person, and between an imitation Master and a real 
one. Then the Initiator showed him many astral 
cases and asked how he would help in each, and he 
replied as well as he could. At the end He smiled and 
said that the answers were very satisfactory. 

The Initiator then delivered the Charge—a very 
solemn and beautiful address—part of which is always 
to the same effect, though something personal to each 
candidate is generally added. This Charge explains 


134 Tue MASTERS AND THE PaTH 


the work of the Brotherhood in the world, and the 
responsibility which rests on each member individ- 
ually, for each has to share in the bearing of the great 
burden of the sorrows of the world. Each must be 
ready to help both by service and by counsel, for it is 
one Brotherhood, acting under one Law and one Head, 
and each Brother has the privilege of putting any 
local knowledge or special faculty that he may possess 
at the disposition of the Brotherhood for the further- 
ance of any department of Their great work of aiding 
the progress of humanity. Although the rule of the 
King is absolute, no decision of importance is taken 
without the consent of even the youngest member of 
the Brotherhood. Each is a representative of the 
Brotherhood in whatever part of the world he may 
be, and each is pledged to be at the disposal of the 
Brotherhood, to go wherever he is sent, to work in 
any way that is required. While younger members 
will naturally implicitly obey the Heads, they may yet 
help by local knowledge, and may always suggest 
anything that seems to them of possible use. 

Each Brother living in the world must remember 
that he is a center through which the force of the 
King may be sent for the helping of those who are in 
need, and that any older Brother may at any time 
use him as a channel for His blessing. Therefore each 
younger Brother should always be ready to be so used 
at any moment, for he never can tell when his services 
may be required. The life of the Brother should be 
one of entire devotion to others; he should watch 


Tue First INITIATION 135 


eagerly and incessantly for every opportunity of ren- 
dering service, and let such service be his keenest joy. 
He must remember that the honor of the Brotherhood 
is in his hands, and he must see to it that no word or 
act of his shall ever sully it in the eyes of men, or 
cause them to think of it one whit less highly. 

He must not think that, because he has entered the 
Stream, trial and struggle will cease for him; on the 
contrary, he will have to make still greater efforts, 
but he will have greater strength to make them. His 
power will be far greater than before; but, in exactly 
the same proportion, his responsibility is greater also. 
He must remember that it is not he, a separated self, 
who has gained a step which has lifted him above his 
fellows; rather he should rejoice that humanity 
through him has risen a little, has freed itself to this 
small! extent from its chains, has come into this much 
more of its own. The blessing of the Brotherhood is 
ever with him; but it will descend upon him precisely 
in the measure in which he passes it on to others; for 
this is the eternal law. 

That is part of the Charge which is always given. 
As a private admonition to this candidate the Initiator 
added: 

“Your body is very young to bear so heavy a re- 
sponsibility as this great gift of Initiation; yet that 
very youth offers you an opportunity as wonderful 
as any that has ever fallen to the lot of man. It has 
been earned by the karma of your previous lives of 
self-sacrifice; see to it that in this body you prove 


136 Tue MASTERS AND THE PATH 


yourself worthy of it. We trust you to show that, in 
deciding to open the doors to you so soon, we have 
chosen wisely; remember always the absolute unity 
that exists between us all who are members of the 
One Brotherhood, so that its dignity shall never suffer 
at your hands. Beginning thus early, you may go 
very far in this incarnation; the climb will be steep, 
but your strength and love will be sufficient for it. 
Cultivate wisdom; learn perfect control of all your 
vehicles; develop in yourself alertness, decision, far- 
sightedness; remember that I expect you to be ready 
to act as a trusty lieutenant for Me when I come forth 
to teach the world. You have won the way so far 
by the wealth of your love; let that love ever increase 
and strengthen, and it shall carry you through to the 
end.” 

Then the Lord turned to the other Masters and 
sald: 

“T find this candidate satisfactory; do all present 
agree to his reception into our company?” 

And all answered: “We agree.” 

Then the Initiator rose from His seat and turned 
towards Shamballa, and called aloud: 

“Do I this, O Lord of Life and Light and Glory, 
in Thy Name and for Thee?” 

Over His head in response blazed forth the flashing 
Star which conveys the assent of the King, and all 
bowed low before it, while the Angel music rang out 
in a triumphant burst like some great royal march. 
And to these strains the candidate advanced, led by 


Tue Iirst INITIATION 137 


the two Masters, and knelt before Him Who repre- 
sented the One Who alone can grant admission to 
the Brotherhood. A line of dazzling light, like a flash 
of lightning standing still, extended from the Star to 
the heart of the Initiator, and from Him to the heart 
of the candidate. Under the influence of that tre- 
mendous magnetism, the tiny Silver Star of Conscious- 
ness which represents the Monad in the candidate 
swelled out in glowing brilliancy until it filled his 
causal body, and for a wonderful moment the Monad 
and the Ego were one, even as they will be perma- 
nently when Adeptship is attained. The Lord placed 
His hands upon the head of the candidate, and, call- 
ing him by his true name, said: 

“In the Name of the One Initiator, Whose Star 
shines above us, I receive you into the Brotherhood 
of Eternal Life. See to it that you are a worthy and 
useful member of it. You are now safe forever; you 
have entered upon the Stream: may you soon reach 
the further shore!” 

The Angel music pealed forth in a great ocean of 
sweet, glad sound, and seemed to fill the very air 
with strength and joy. And the Initiator and the 
kneeling candidate and his sponsors were almost 
veiled in the loveliest of colors, which brought the 
blessings of the Bodhisattva and the Maha-Chohan 
on their waves, and the exquisite golden light of the 
Flower of earth’s Humanity, of Gautama, the Lord 
Buddha, hovered over them in benediction, for an- 
other child of Man had entered on the Path. And the 


138 Tue MASstTerRs AND THE PatH 


Silver Star seemed for a moment to expand and enfold 
the Initiator and the new Brother in its blinding glory. 
And when they came forth from that glory the robe 
of the neophyte was no longer linen, but white silk, 
like those of the other Initiates. | 

The picture when the Initiator made His own causal 
body glow, and that of the new Initiate glowed out 
in response, was enthrallingly beautiful. Green and 
golden light shone out, and the Monad—normally but 
appearing as a speck. of light within the permanent 
atom of the causal body—shone forth resplendently, 
so that the brilliant nucleus swelled out and occupied 
the whole oval. The Monad on this occasion iden- 
tifies himself for the time with the fraction of himself 
that is the ego, and it is he who takes the vows. The 
effect on the astral body is also most interesting; a 
great rhythmical swing is given to it, without disturb- 
ing the stability of its equilibrium, so that it is able 
thenceforth to feel with far greater keenness than 
before, without being shaken from its own base, or 
escaping from its owner’s control. The Initiator sets 
the swing, reproducing His own vibration in the astral 
body of the neophyte, and at the same time steady- 
ing it, so that there is no shaking, no disturbance, but 
an immensely increased power of vibration. 

When all this had been done, the Initiator gave the 
Key of Knowledge to the new Brother, and instructed 
him how he might infallibly recognize astrally any 
member of the Brotherhood who was not personally 
known to him. He directed some of the older pupils 


Tue First INITIATION 139 


of the Masters to attend as soon as might be to the 
necessary buddhic exercises, and the great ceremony 
ended with the blessing of the new Initiate by the 
assembled Brothers. The new Brother in turn then 
gave the blessing of the Brotherhood to the world, 
wielding thus for the first time the new and mighty 
power which had been conferred upon him. As the 
blessing plays round and through the world, adding 
new life to everything, giving to each a little more 
force, a little more beauty, a multitudinous murmur 
fills the air, myriad whispers that form themselves 
into a song of deep delight and gratitude. Another 
force for good has been made manifest, and Nature, 
that groans and travails with her children, rejoices 
when one of them enters the Brotherhood that shall 
at last deliver her from pain. For the life of the 
world is One Life, and when real progress is made 
by any unit, all Nature shares in the gain, even that 
part of it which we so wrongly call inanimate. 

So the wonderful ceremony ended, and the Masters 
gathered round the new Brother and gave him hearty 
congratulations as the blazing Star disappeared. 

On the following night I had orders to present the 
neophyte to the Lord of the World. This is of course 
a very unusual honor, and not in any way part of the 
ceremony of the First Initiation. It generally accom- 
panies the Third. We repaired to Shamballa at the 
appointed time, and were received in the great hall 
as usual. We found the King in conversation with 
the Lord Gautama Buddha and the Lord Maitreya. 


140 Tue MAsTers AND THE PatTH 


The latter presented the neophyte to the King as “our 
newest Brother, the Ever-glowing Love-Star,” and 
Sanat Kumara smiled graciously upon the youth as 
he knelt before Him. The neophyte raised his hands 
in the Eastern salutation, and the King put forth His 
right hand and grasped them as He said to him: 

“You have done well, my son, and I am pleased 
with you; I have called you thus before Me to tell 
you so. Go on and do better still, for I expect you to 
play a great part in the future of My new subrace. 
My Star shone over you visibly a few hours ago; re- 
member that it hovers over you just as really always 
when you cannot see it; and where it shines there 
shall ever be power, purity and peace.” 

Then the Lord Buddha, laying His hand upon the 
neophyte’s head, spoke: 

“T also wish to give you My blessing and My con- 
gratulations; for I think that your rapid progress now 
is an earnest of that which is to come, and that in 
the future I shall greet you as a Brother of the 
Glorious Mystery, a member of the Spiritual Dynasty 
through whom light comes to the worlds.”’ 

The Three Kumaras Who stood behind smiled also 
upon the youth as he knelt speechless, but glowing 
with love and adoration. The King raised His hand 
in blessing while we prostrated ourselves, and we came 
away. 


The time occupied by the ceremony of Initiation 
varies according to several considerations, one of 


Tue First INITIATION 141 


which is the amount of knowledge that the candidate 
brings with him. Some traditions put the period as 
three days and nights, but it is often finished in much 
less time. One at which I was present took two nights 
and a day of seclusion, but others have been con- 
densed into one night by leaving much that used to 
be included to be finished later by the higher pupils 
of the Masters. Some of the old Initiations lasted so 
long because the candidates had to be instructed in 
astral work. There are also buddhic experiences 
which must be realized, for a certain amount of devel- 
opment of the buddhic vehicle is required for Initia- 
tion, as some of the teachings which must be given at 
that level could not otherwise be understood. Most 
Theosophists have already done astral work, and 
thus have learnt the detail of the astral world, 
much of which must be taught at this time if it 
is not already known. But when the Initiator 
knows that the candidate has already some buddhic 
development it has several times been left to older 
pupils to carry the candidates through the buddhic 
experiences on the following night, or whenever it 
could be arranged. 

The actual ceremony of Initiation takes less than 
six hours, but a certain amount of time is given to 
the candidates both before and afterwards. The 
Masters always congratulate the candidates after 
the Initiation, and each says a few kindly words. 
They take the opportunity of such a gathering to 
transmit certain orders to Their pupils; and gener- 


142 Tue MASTERS AND THE PaTH 


ally it is an occasion of great rejoicing, at any rate 
among all the younger members. It is a victory for 
all when another neophyte is admitted, when one 
more is safe forever. 

We have already spoken of the close relation be- 
tween an accepted pupil and his Master; all the time 
this intimacy has been steadily growing, and it usually 
happens that when the pupil is approaching the por- 
tal of Initiation the Master considers that the time is 
ripe for Him to draw the chela into a still deeper 
union. He is then called the Son of the Master, and 
the link is such that not only the lower mind but also 
the ego in the causal body of the pupil is enfolded 
within that of the Adept, and the latter can no longer 
draw a veil to cut off the pupil. There is a beautiful 
reference to this state of closest union in Light on the 
Path, where it is written: ‘“ ‘My peace I give unto 
you’ can only be said by the Master to the beloved 
disciples who are as Himself.” And so these are they 
who have the inestimable privilege of being able to 
pass on that peace to others in all its fullness. Any 
accepted pupil of the Master has the right and the 
duty to bless in His Name, and a splendid outpouring 
of the Master’s power will assuredly follow his effort 
to do so. Especially should he give that blessing men- 
tally whenever he enters a house: “May the blessing 
of the Master rest on this house and on all who live 
therein.” But the Son of the Master can give the 
very touch of His intimate presence, a fuller and a 
greater peace. But he who is a Son of the Master 


Tue First INITIATION 143 


either is or soon will be a member of the Great White 
Brotherhood also; and that, as we have said, gives the 
power to wield an even greater blessing, though both 
are appropriate, each in its several place. 

I well remember giving each of these on different 
occasions to a great Angel of the neighborhood with 
whom I have the honor to be well acquainted. Pass- 
ing close to his territories in a vessel I gave him once 
as a greeting the full blessing of my Master, and it 
was indeed beautiful to see the way in which he re- 
ceived it, bowing profoundly and showing his appre- 
ciation by a lovely soft glow of holiness and utter- 
most devotion. Another day under similar circum- 
stances I gave him the blessing of the Brotherhood, 
and instantly every power of that great Angel flashed 
out in glad response, and the whole of his territory 
lit up. It was as though a soldier had leapt to at- 
tention, as though everything, not only within himself 
but in all the thousands of minor creatures working 
under him had suddenly been vivified and raised to 
its highest power. All Nature instantly responded. 
You see, my Master, however deeply reverenced by 
him, is not his Master, but my King is his King, for 
there is but One. 

The question as to whether a man is approaching 
fitness for Initiation involves three separate sets of 
considerations, all depending upon one another. The 
first is as to whether he is in possession of a sufficient 
amount of the necessary Qualifications, as laid down 
in At the Feet of the Master, and that means that he 


144 Tue MAsTersS AND THE PatTH 


must have a minimum of all, and very much more 
than a minimum of some of them. To illustrate this 
think for a moment of the method adopted in mark- 
ing papers at certain examinations. It is determined 
beforehand by the examiners that no candidate shall 
be allowed to pass who falls below a certain minimum 
in each of the subjects; but the percentage required 
in each subject is very low—say twenty-five per cent. 
Anyone who fails to secure twenty-five per cent of 
the marks in any subject will fail; but nevertheless 
one who secures exactly that amount in each of the 
subjects will not succeed, for not only are separate 
minima set for the different subjects but there is also 
a total minimum—let us say forty per cent. One 
therefore who falls as low as twenty-five or thirty 
per cent in one or two of his subjects must make 
very much more than that in several other subjects 
in order to attain the average required. This is pre- 
cisely the method adopted in occultism; there must 
be a certain amount of each of these qualifications 
present in the successful candidate, but he must have 
very thoroughly developed some of them. A candi- 
date cannot succeed if he be entirely lacking in dis- 
crimination; yet if he shows much less of that than 
he should, an overflowing flood of love may perhaps 
be accepted as atoning for it. Secondly, the ego must 
have so trained his lower vehicles that he can func- 
tion perfectly through them when he wishes to do 
so; he must have effected what in our earlier Theo- 
sophical literature was called the junction of the lower 


TuHeE First INITIATION 145 


and higher self; and thirdly, he must be strong 
enough to stand the great strain involved, which ex- 
tends even to the physical body. 

As to the level of progress at which he will be 
initiated, there is room for very great variety. It 
would be a mistake to suppose that all Initiates are 
equal in development, just as it would be unsafe to 
assume that all men who have taken the degree of 
Master of Arts are equal in knowledge. It is quite 
possible that a man might have done exceedingly well 
in many of the qualities required, and be far beyond 
the total minimum, and yet be seriously deficient and 
below the minimum standard in one subject; it would 
then, of course, be necessary for him to wait till he 
had the minimum in that neglected subject, and no 
doubt while he was acquiring that he would be de- 
veloping the others still further. It is therefore ob- 
vious that while there is a certain attainment required 
for Initiation, some of those who are presented for 
it may have achieved far more than that in some di- 
rections. We see, too, that there is likely to be con- 
siderable variation in the interval between Initiations. 
One man who has just now been able to take the first 
may nevertheless possess a considerable share of the 
qualifications for the second; therefore for him the 
interval between the two might be unusually short. 
On the other hand, a candidate who had only just 
sufficient strength in all directions to enable him to 
pass through the first, would have slowly to develop 
within himself all the additional faculties and knowl- 


146 Tue MASTERS AND THE PATH 


edge necessary for the second, so his interval would 
probably be long. 

We have now entered upon a period in the world’s 
history in which progress at all levels of evolution can 
be very rapid because the near coming of the World- 
Teacher has set up so strong a tide of thought and 
feeling about spiritual things, all in the direction of 
progress, that any one who now makes an effort along 
that line finds himself swimming with the current and 
advancing swiftly. This refers not merely to the 
current of human thought and feeling; in fact, human 
thought is but a very small part of that tide, for the 
human beings who know anything definite as to the 
nearness of the Coming are but a minority. What 
counts most is the tremendously powerful thought and 
feeling of the vast hosts of the great Angels who know 
of the plan, and are trying in every way to help it. 

Such rapid progress is, however, a very decided 
strain—a thing which few aspirants sufficiently realize. 
The student of occultism who sets before himself the 
idea of hastening his development will do well to 
remember that one of the necessities is good physical 
health. He wishes to make in one life the progress 
which under ordinary circumstances would be dis- 
tributed over twenty or more, and as the amount 
that has to be done is the same in either case, for no 
reduction whatever has been made in the standard of 
the requirements for Initiation, it is obvious that he 
must work all his vehicles very much harder if he is 
to succeed. 


Tue First INITIATION 147 


It is possible on the physical plane to shorten the 
period of study usually assigned to any given exami- 
nation; but a man can do it only by putting a far 
greater tax upon his brain, his attention, his eyesight, 
his power of endurance; and we all know how fatally 
easy it is for him to strain himself in any one of these 
directions, and thereby seriously to injure his physical 
health. Similar conditions attend upon the efforts to 
hasten spiritual evolution; it can be done, and it has 
been done, and it is a very fine thing for any man to: 
do, always with this provision, that he must watch 
very carefully against overstrain lest in the ultimate 
he should delay his development instead of advancing. 
it. It is not sufficient to have good physical health 
at the beginning of one’s endeavor; it is also necessary 
to preserve it until the end, for the progress itself is 
but a means to an end, and we try to develop our- 
selves not that we may become great and wise, but 
that we may have the power and the knowledge to 
work for humanity to the best effect. We must never 
forget that occultism is above all the apotheosis of 
common sense. 

Hitherto, except very rarely, persons have been 
initiated only after their physical bodies have come 
to mature age, and after they have proved by their 
activities in life that their hearts are pledged to the 
work of the Logos. During the last few years, how- 
ever, certain egos whose bodies are still young have 
been given the privilege of Initiation, and we under- 
stand that this has been done in order that when the 


148 Tue MASTERS AND THE PATH 


Lord comes He may find a band of young workers 
ready to serve Him. On His arrival the World- 
Teacher will wield the wondrous consciousness of the 
Brotherhood, and the more helpers dwelling in phys- 
ical bodies that He can draw round Him at any given 
place, the more will His work be facilitated. He can 
use the services of any ordinary man of the world to 
the extent of that man’s capacity; but one who is 
already an accepted pupil of the Master would be of 
far more use to Him in many directions than the man 
of the world could ever be; and of almost infinitely 
ereater use still would be one who had passed the 
portal of Initiation and had awakened all the multiple 
links which bind together the members of the Broth- 
erhood. It is always the ego who is initiated; the age 
of the physical body which it happens to be holding 
at a given time has little to do with the case. 

In all cases when young people have been initiated, 
elder members of the Brotherhood living near to them 
or in touch with them in the physical body have un- 
dertaken to assist and guide them. This is necessary 
because of the great responsibility that Initiation 
brings along with its expansion of consciousness and 
additional faculty and power. A wrong action or a 
false step on the part of an Initiate involves bigger 
karmic consequences than a similar action on the part 
of one who is not a member of the Brotherhood. 
Therefore perhaps it will be well to include here a 
few directions for these younger people. Each one 
should ever remember that he was initiated because in 





Tue First INITIATION 149 


past lives, and perhaps in the present one, he has 
helped the world to a certain requisite degree, ‘and it 
is hoped that he will continue in that path and be- 
come an ever larger channel for the life of the Logos. 
It is because of the probability of his increased use- 
fulness that he is admitted to Initiation, and at the 
ceremony he takes the pledge, not only as the ego 
but as the Monad, that he will make it his life work. 
to pour himself out in blessing, even as the Logos is 
continually streaming forth His love. He must there- 
fore each day and hour keep this pledge in mind and. 
subserve all things to it. His karma from the past 
gives him various personal characteristics and im- 
pulses; he must take heed lest these drive him to think 
of himself and his own well-being, rather than of the 
greater self and the welfare of the world. 

Before he can undertake the larger work awaiting. 
him, the youthful Initiate has often to prepare him- 
self by an ordinary training in college and univer- 
sity. In that case he will be plunged into circum- 
stances of vigorous activity and many self-centered 
interests. Life surrounds him with many temptations,. 
and with occasions tending to make him forget his 
pledge to the Brotherhood. Through them all he must 
have a clearly defined attitude, that he has thrown in 
his lot with the aims of the Brotherhood. In that life 
in the world on every occasion, whether of study, 
recreation or amusement, he must definitely hold the 
thought, “Is this that I am going to do likely to make: 
me better equipped for the Master’s work, or a better 


150 Tue MASTERS AND THE PATH 


channel to spread love and happiness?” He must 
always remember that the Brotherhood has the first 
claim on his services, and must never put himself in 
any position which makes it impossible for him to 
fulfill that duty. It is not intended that he should 
live the life of a hermit; but while he lives that life 
in society which will give him the growth he requires, 
he must all the time watch to see whether it is making 
him more of a channel for the Logos. Henceforth for 
him any experience, however pleasant and harmless, 
which cannot make him a fuller channel of the Logos, 
or give an opportunity for service, is valueless to him, 
and is so much waste of time. He should try to take 
advantage of every opportunity to help that he sees, 
and to learn such things as will make him useful. 

When the pupil takes the great step of Initiation 
and becomes a member of the Brotherhood, he also 
becomes in a far greater and more special sense than 
before the brother of every one of his fellow-men. 
This does not mean that he must direct their lives, 
and try to guide them with criticism. It is not his 
business in life to criticize but to encourage; but if 
he sees reason to make any suggestion he must do it 
with the very greatest care and courtesy. The world 
does not see the higher members of the Brotherhood; 
therefore it is apt to Judge that organization by the 
junior members who come within its purview. That — 
is what is meant by the remark in the Charge at 
Initiation, that the neophyte holds the honor of the 
Brotherhood in his hands. 


Tue First INITIATION 151 


It is his duty to stream forth love and benediction 
so that every place in which he happens to be is 
happier because of his presence. He must therefore 
steadily turn outwards. Henceforth it does not mat- 
ter to him what judgment the world gives on his ac- 
tions, but only what judgment the Brotherhood gives. 
Whether he is popular or unpopular with the world 
matters not at all, if through all his conduct he has 
been loyal to the ideals placed before him. Some 
senior members of the Brotherhood may desire to use 
him at any moment, wherever he happens to be, and 
sometimes without his knowing it in the brain-con- 
sciousness, but he cannot be used if, at the moment 
when he is needed, he is found brooding over his own 
affairs and turned inwards, not outwards to the world. 
The supreme need for him is the building of character, 
so that, when his Master looks at him, He will find 
him thinking of the world’s welfare and not whether 
that world is giving him happiness or misery. 


Cuapter VIII 
THE EGO 


In order that the further steps on the Path may be 
clearly understood, it is necessary at this point to 
consider the ego, and the way in which it has awak- 
ened and put forth its powers to bring the personality 
into harmony with itself, and to reach up to the 
buddhic plane and realize its unity with all that lives. 

In Man Visible and Invisible and The Christian 
Creed I published a diagram illustrating the Three 
Outpourings of the Divine Life in our evolutionary 
scheme. At the top of the diagram appear three 
circles symbolizing the Three Aspects of the Logos, 
the Three Persons of the Blessed Trinity; and from 
each of them a line runs down, crossing at right 
angles the horizontal lines which signify the seven 
planes of nature. That from the lowest circle (the 
Third Aspect) is drawn straight down the middle 
of the diagram, growing heavier and darker as it 
descends, showing how the Holy Spirit vivifies the 
matter of the various planes, first building their re- 
spective atoms, and then aggregating those atoms into 
elements. 

Into that matter so vivified the Second Outpouring 
comes down from the circle typifying God the Son, 





THE Eco 153 


and the Divine Life of which that Outpouring con- 
sists draws that matter together into forms which it 
can inhabit, and thus incarnates and makes bodies 
or vehicles for itself. At its lowest level of materi- 
ality that Life ensouls the mineral kingdom, and as 
it evolves it gradually becomes definite enough to 
ensoul the vegetable kingdom, and still later the 
animal. When it has risen to the highest level of the 
animal kingdom a very remarkable change takes 
place, and an entirely new factor is introduced—that 
of the Third Outpouring, which comes from the 
highest circle, the First Aspect of the Logos, com- 
monly called God the Father. 

That force which has hitherto been the ensouler 
now becomes in its turn the ensouled, and the new 
force from the First Person seizes upon what has 
heretofore been the soul of the animal, and actually 
makes it into a body for itself, though a body of 
matter so exceedingly fine as to be utterly inappreci- 
able to our physical senses. Thus is born the ego in 
his causal body, and he at once draws into himself 
the result of all the experience that has been gained by 
that animal soul in all the eons of its previous devel- 
opment, so that nothing of the qualities which have 
been acquired in the course of its evolution is lost. 

What then is this wonderful force that rushes from 
the Highest Aspect of the Solar Logos which is known 
to us? It is in very truth the actual life of God 
Himself. So, you may say, are the First and Second 
Outpourings. That is quite true, but they have come 


154 Tue MAsTerRs AND THE PatTH 


down slowly and gradually through all the subplanes, 
drawing round themselves the matter of each of these, 
and enmeshing themselves in it so thoroughly that it 
is scarcely possible to discern them for what they are, 
to recognize them as Divine Life at all. But this 
Third Outpouring flashes straight down from its 
source without involving itself in any way in the in- 
termediate matter. It is the pure white light, uncon- 
taminated by anything through which it has passed. 
Although for clearness’ sake our diagram shows this 
Third Stream of the Divine Life as coming forth 
directly from the Logos, it has in fact issued forth 
from Him long ago, and is hovering at. an intermediate 
point in the second of our planes. When hovering at 
that level it is called the Monad, and perhaps the 
least misleading manner in which we can image it to 
ourselves is to think of it as a part of God—a part, 
but of That Which cannot be divided—a paradox, 
truly, to our mortal intellect; yet enshrining an eter- 
nal truth which is far beyond our comprehension. 
The general method of this descent of spirit into 
matter seems to be always the same, though the 
diverse conditions of the different planes naturally 
produce many variations in detail. The Logos Him- 
self puts down the Monad—a tiny fragment of Him- 
self—into a level far below His own; of course such 
a descent must mean a most serious limitation, though 
it is all too far above the utmost reach of our con- 
sciousness to be described or understood. In exactly 
the same way the Monad puts down a tiny fragment 





THE Eco 155 


of Himself which becomes the ego; and in that case 
also the limitation is enormously increased. The very 
same thing happens once more when the ego repeats 
the operation and projects a minute portion of himself 
into the mental, the astral and the physical bodies of 
the man—a fragment which we call the personality. 

This last tiny fragment is the point of conscious- 
ness which those of us who are clairvoyant can see 
moving about within the man. According to one sys- 
tem of symbology this is seen as “‘the golden man the 
size of a thumb” who dwells in the heart; but many 
of us see it rather in the form of a star. I think I 
have always seen it myself as a brilliant star of light. 
A man may keep this star of consciousness where he 
will—that is to say, in any one of the seven principal 
centers of the body. Which of these is most natural 
to a man depends largely upon his type or Ray, and 
I think also upon his race and subrace. We of the 
fifth subrace of the fifth root-race nearly always keep 
that consciousness in the brain, in the center depend- 
ent upon the pituitary body. There are, however, 
men of other races to whom it comes more natural 
to keep it habitually in the heart, the throat or the 
solar plexus. 

This star of consciousness is the representative of 
the ego down here in these lower planes, and as it 
manifests through those vehicles we call it the per- 
sonality; and that is the man as he is known to his 
friends down here. 

But though that personality is absolutely part of the 


156 Tue MASTERS AND THE PaTH 


ego—though the only life and power in it are those of 
the ego—it nevertheless often forgets those facts, and 
comes to regard itself as an entirely separate entity, 
and works down here for its own ends. It has always 
a line of communication with the ego (often called 
in our books the antaskarana), but it generally makes 
no effort to use it. In the case of ordinary people 
who have never studied these matters the personality 
is to all intents and purposes the man, and the ego 
manifests himself only very rarely and partially. 

Man’s evolution in its earlier stages consists in the 
opening up of this line of communication, so that the 
ego may be increasingly able to assert himself through 
it, and finally entirely to dominate the personality, 
so that it may have no separate thought or will, but 
may be merely (as it should be) an expression of the 
ego on these lower planes. It must, of course, be 
understood that the ego, belonging as he does to an 
altogether higher plane, can never fully express him- 
self down here; the most for which we can hope is 
that the personality will contain nothing which is 
not intended by the ego—that it will express as much 
of him as can be expressed in this lower world. 

The absolutely untrained man has practically no 
communication with the ego; the Initiate has full 
communication; consequently we find (as we should 
expect) that there are men among us at all stages 
between these two extremes. It must be remembered 
that the ego himself is only in process of development, 
and that we have therefore to deal with egos in very 





THE Eco 157 


different stages of advancement. In any case an ego 
is in a great many ways something enormously bigger 
than a personality can ever be. Though, as has been 
said, he is but a fragment of the Monad, he is yet 
complete as an ego in his causal body, even: when his 
powers are undeveloped; whereas there is but a touch 
of his life in the personality. It is also true that life 
at his level is an infinitely larger and more vivid thing 
than what we know as life down here. Just as it is 
evolution for the personality to learn to express the 
ego more fully, so is it evolution for the ego to learn 
to express the Monad more fully. An undeveloped 
personality forgets all about his connection with the 
ego and feels himself quite independent. It can 
hardly be possible for an ego at his much higher level 
to be unaware of his link with the Monad; certainly 
some egos are far more awake to the necessities of 
their evolution than others—which is only another 
way of saying that there are older and younger egos 
and that the older are striving more earnestly than 
the younger to unfold their latent possibilities. 

We are apt to think that the only development 
possible for an ego is through the personality; but 
that is not so—or rather it is so only in connection 
with one small set of qualities. As I have explained 
at length in Man Visible and Invisible, the causal 
body of a savage is almost colorless. As in the proc- 
ess of his evolution he develops good qualities which 
can find corresponding vibrations in the matter of the 
causal body, the colors expressive of these qualities 


158 Tue MASTERS AND THE PatTH 


begin to show themselves; and presently the causal 
body, instead of being empty, is full of active, pul- 
sating life. So much more of the ego can now man- 
ifest through it that it has to increase enormously in 
size; it extends further and further from its physical 
center until the man is able to enfold hundreds and 
even thousands of persons within himself, and so 
exercise a vast influence for good. 

But all this, wonderful though it be, is only one 
side of his development. He has quite other lines 
of progress of which we down here know nothing; he 
is living a life of his own among his peers, among the 
great Arupadevas, among all kinds of splendid Angels, 
in a world far beyond our ken. The young ego prob- 
ably is but little awake as yet to all that glorious life, 
just as a baby in arms knows little of the interests 
of the world surrounding him; but as his consciousness 
gradually unfolds, he awakens to all this magnifi- 
cence, he becomes fascinated by its vividness and 
beauty. 

At the same time he himself becomes a glorious 
object, and gives us for the first time some idea of 
what God means man to be. Among such beings 
thoughts no longer take form and float about as they 
do at lower levels, but pass like lightning flashes from 
one to another. Here we have no newly acquired 
vehicles, gradually coming under control and learning 
by degrees more or less feebly to express the soul 
within; but we are face to face with one body older 
than the hills, an actual expression of the Divine 





THE Eco 159 


Glory which ever rests behind it, and shines through 
it more and more in the gradual unfolding of its 
powers. Here we deal no longer with outward forms, 
but we see the things in themselves, the reality which 
hes behind the imperfect expression. Here cause and 
effect are one, clearly visible in their unity, like two 
sides of the same coin. Here we have left the con- 
erete for the abstract; we have no longer the multi- 
plicity of forms, but the idea which lies behind all 
those forms. 

Here the essence of everything is available; we no 
longer study details; we no longer talk round a sub- 
ject or endeavor to explain; we take up the essence or 
the idea of the subject and move it as a whole, as one 
moves a piece when playing chess. What down here 
would be a system of philosophy, needing many vol- 
umes to explain it, is there a single definite object— 
a thought which can be thrown down as one throws 
a card upon the table. An opera or an oratorio, which 
here would occupy a full orchestra for many hours in 
the rendering, is there a single mighty chord; the 
methods of a whole school of painting are condensed 
into one magnificent idea; and ideas such as these are 
the intellectual counters which are used by egos in 
their converse one with another. 

It is not easy to explain in physical words the 
differences which exist between egos, since all of them 
are in many ways much greater than anything to 
which we are accustomed down here. Analogies are 
notoriously misleading if pressed too far or taken too 


160 Tue MASTERS AND THE PaTH 


literally; but I may perhaps convey some faint re- 
flection of the impression produced upon me by in- 
tercourse with them, if I say that an advanced ego 
reminds me of a dignified, stately and most courteous. 
ambassador, full of wisdom and kindliness, while the 
less developed man has more of the type of the bluff, 
hearty, country squire. An ego who is already on the 
Path, and is nearing Adeptship, has much in common 
with the great Angels, and radiates spiritual influences 
of prodigious power. 

Can we wonder, then, that the ego throws himself 
energetically into the whirl of intense activity of his 
own plane, and that it seems to him immensely more 
interesting and important than the faint far-distant. 
struggles of a cramped and half-formed personality 
veiled in the dense obscurity of a lower world? 

In the physical life of the ordinary man of the 
world there is little of interest to the ego, and it is 
only now and then that something of real importance 
occurs, that may for a moment attract his attention, 
so that from it he draws whatever is worth taking. 
The ordinary man lives in patches; more than half 
the time he is not awake to the real and higher life 
at all. Some of us are apt to complain that our egos 
take very little notice of us; let us ask ourselves how 
much notice we have taken of them. How often, for 
example, in any given day, have we even thought of 
the ego? If we wish to attract his attention we must 
make the personality useful to him. As soon as we 
begin to devote the greater part of our thought to 





Tue Eco 161 


higher things (and that is equivalent to saying as soon 
as we really begin to live) the ego will be likely to 
take somewhat more notice of us. 

The ego knows that certain necessary parts of his 
evolution can be achieved only through that person- 
ality, and in its mental, astral and physical bodies; 
he knows, therefore, that he must sometime attend to 
it, must take it in hand and bring it under his con- 
trol. But we can well understand that the task may 
often seem uninviting, that a given personality may 
appear anything but attractive or hopeful. If we 
look at many of the personalities around us—their 
physical bodies poisoned with meat, alcohol and to- 
bacco, their astral bodies reeking with greed and sen- 
suality and their mental bodies having no interests 
beyond business, or perhaps horse-racing and prize- 
fighting—it is not difficult to see why an ego, sur- 
veying them from his lofty height, might decide to 
postpone his serious effort to another incarnation, in 
the hope that the next set of vehicles might be more 
amenable to influence than those upon which his hor- 
rified gaze then rested. We can imagine that he 
might say to himself: “I can do nothing with that; 
I will take my chance of getting something better 
next time; it can hardly be worse, and meantime I 
have much more important business to do up here.” 

A similar thing not infrequently happens in the 
early stages of a new incarnation. From the birth 
of the child the ego is hovering over it, and in some 
cases he begins to try to influence its development 


162 Tue MASTERS AND THE PatTH 


while it is still very young. As a general rule he pays 
little attention to it until about the age of seven, by 
which time the work of the karmic elemental should 
be practically over. Children differ so widely that it 
is not surprising to find that the relation between the 
egos and the personalities involved differs widely also. 
Some child-personalities are quick and responsive,. 
some are dull or wayward; when the latter character- 
istics are prominent, the ego often withdraws his: 
active interest for the time, hoping that as the child- 
ish body grows it may become cleverer or more re- 
sponsive. 

Such a decision may seem to us unwise, because if 
the ego neglects his present personality it is unlikely 
that the next will be an improvement upon it; and if 
he allows the child-body to develop without his in- 
fluence, the undesirable qualities which have been 
manifested may quite possibly grow stronger instead 
of dying out. But we are hardly in a position to 
judge, since our knowledge of the problem is so im- 
perfect and we can see nothing of the higher business 
to which he is devoting himself. 

From this it will be seen how impossible it is to 
judge with any precision the position in evolution of 
anyone whom we see only on the physical plane. In 
one case karmic causes may have produced a very fair 
personality, having an ego of only moderate advance- 
ment behind it; while in another case those causes 
may have given rise to an inferior or defective per- 
sonality, belonging to a comparatively advanced ego. 





THE Eco 163 


A good illustration of this appears among the stories 
of the life of the Lord Buddha. A man came to Him 
one day, as people in trouble were wont to do, and 
told Him that he had great difficulty with his medi- 
tation, which he could scarcely succeed in doing at 
all. Then the Buddha told him that there was a very 
simple reason for it—that in a previous life he had 
foolishly been in the habit of annoying certain holy 
men and disturbing their meditations. Yet that man 
may have been more advanced as an ego than some 
of his companions whose meditations were well done. 

When the ego does decide to turn the full force of 
his energy upon the personality, the change which he 
can produce is marvelous. No one who has not per- 
sonally investigated the matter can imagine how won- 
derful, how rapid, how radical such a change may be 
when conditions are favorable—that is, when the ego 
is reasonably strong, and the personality not incur- 
ably vicious—more especially when a determined 
effort is made by the personality on its side to be- 
come a perfect expression of the ego, and make itself 
attractive to him. 

The difficulty of this subject is greatly enhanced 
by the fact that it is necessary for us to regard it 
simultaneously from two points of view. Most of us 
down here are very emphatically personalities, and 
think and act almost exclusively as such; yet we 
know all the time that in reality we are egos, and 
those of us who by many years of meditation have 
rendered ourselves more sensitive to finer influences 


164 Tue MASTERS AND THE PatH 


are often conscious of the intervention of this Higher 
Self. The more we can make a habit of identifying 
ourselves with the ego, the more clearly and sanely 
shall we view the problems of life; but in so far as 
we feel ourselves to be still personalities looking up 
to our Higher Selves, it is obviously our duty and 
our interest to open ourselves to them, to reach up 
towards them, and persistently to set up within our- 
selves such vibrations as will be of use to them. At 
least let us be sure that we do not stand in the way 
of the ego, that we always do our best for him ac- 
cording to our lights. 

Since selfishness is the intensification of the per- 
sonality, our first step should be to get rid of that. 
Then we must keep our minds filled with high 
thoughts; for if they are continually occupied with 
lower matters (even though those lower matters may 
be quite estimable in their way) the ego cannot 
readily use them as channels of expression. When 
he makes a tentative effort, when he puts down an 
exploratory finger, let us receive him with enthusiasm 
and hasten to obey his behests, that he may take pos- 
session of our minds more and more, and so come into 
his inheritance as far as these lower planes are con- 
cerned. ‘Thus shall we bring ourselves ever nearer to 
the goal that we wish to reach; thus shall we set our 
feet upon the Path which leads directly to that First 
Initiation in which the lower and the Higher become 
one, or rather the greater has absorbed the lesser, so 
that there should now be nothing in the personality 





THE Eco 165 


which is not a representation of the ego; the lower 
is now merely an expression of the higher. The per- 
sonality may have had a: great many unpleasant 
qualities of his own, such as jealousy, anger and de- 
pression, but they have all been cast off, and now he 
merely reproduces that which comes from above. 
The ego having brought the lower self into harmony 
with himself is now reaching upwards into the buddhic 
plane, the plane of unity. It is only in this way that 
the man can begin to cast off the delusion of self 
which stands in the way of his further progress, and 
that is why the buddhic experience is necessary at the 
First Initiation if it has not been had before. In 
many cases it has come earlier because the higher 
emotions showing themselves in the astral body, have 
reflected themselves in the buddhic vehicle and 
aroused it, and consequently there is some awaken- 
ing before Initiation. 

All that lives is really one, and it is the duty of 
those who enter the Brotherhood to know that as 
a fact. We are taught that the Self is one, and we 
try to understand what that means; but it is quite 
a different thing when we see it for ourselves, as the 
candidate does when he enters the buddhic plane. It 
is as if in physical life we were each living at the 
bottom of a well, from which we may look up at the 
sunlight in the world above; and, just as the light 
shines down into the depth of many wells, and yet 
ever remains the one light, so does the Light of the 
One illumine the darkness of our hearts. The Initiate: 


166 Tue MASTERS AND THE PATH 


has climbed out of the well of the personality, and 
sees that the light which he thought to be himself is 
in very truth the Infinite Light of all. 

While living in the causal body, the ego already 
recognized the Divine Consciousness in all; when he 
looked upon another ego his consciousness leaped up 
as it were to recognize the divine in him. But on the 
buddhic plane it no longer leaps to greet him from 
without, for it is already enshrined within his heart. 
He is that consciousness and it is his. There is no 
longer the “you” and the “I,” for both are one—facets 
of something that transcends and yet includes them 
both. 

Yet in all this strange advance there is no loss of 
the sense of individuality even though there is an 
utter loss of the sense of separateness. That seems 
a paradox, while yet it is obviously true. The man 
remembers all that lies behind him. He is himself, 
the same man who did this action or that in the 
far-off past. He is in no way changed, except that 
now he is much more than he was then, and feels 
that he includes within himself many other manifes- 
tations as well. If here and now a hundred of us 
could simultaneously raise our consciousnesses into 
the intuitional world, we should all be one conscious- 
ness, but to each man that would seem to be his own, 
absolutely unchanged except that now it included all 
the others as well. 

To each it would seem that it was he who had 
absorbed or included all those others, so we are here 





Tue Eco 167 


manifestly in the presence of a kind of illusion, and 
a little further realization makes it clear to us that 
we are all facets of a greater consciousness, and that 
what we have hitherto thought to be our qualities, 
our intellect, our energies, have all the time been His 
qualities, His intellect, His energy. We have arrived 
at the realization in actual fact of the time-honored 
formula: “Thou art That.” It is one thing to talk 
about this down here and to grasp it, or to think that 
we grasp it, intellectually; but it is quite another to 
enter into that marvelous world and know it with a 
certainty that can never again be shaken. 

When this buddhic consciousness fully impresses 
the physical brain, it gives a new value to all the 
actions and relations of life. We no longer look upon 
a person or object, no matter with what degree of 
kindliness or sympathy; we simply are that person 
or object, and we know him or it as we know the 
thought of our own brain or the movement of our 
own hand. We appreciate his motives as our own 
motives, even though we may perfectly understand 
that another part of ourselves, possessing more know]l- 
edge or a different view point, might act quite dif- 
ferently. 

Yet it must not be supposed that when a man en- 
ters upon the lowest subdivision of the Intuitional 
world he at once becomes fully conscious of his unity 
with all that lives. That perfection of sense comes 
only as the result of much toil and trouble, when he 
has reached the highest subdivision of this realm of 


168 Tue MASTERS AND THE PaTH 


unity. To enter that plane at all is to experience an 
enormous extension of consciousness, to realize him- 
self as one with many others; but before him there 
opens a time of effort, of self-development, analogous 
at that level to what we do down here when by medi- 
tation we try to open our consciousness to the plane 
next above us. Step by step, subplane by subplane, 
the aspirant must win his way; for even at that level 
exertion is still necessary if progress is to be made. 

Having passed the First Initiation and consciously 
entered the buddhic plane, this work of developing 
himself on subplane after subplane now lies before 
the candidate, in order that he may get rid of the 
three great fetters, as they are technically called, 
which embarrass his further progress. He is now 
definitely on the Path of Holiness, and is described 
in the Buddhist system as the Sotapatt: or Sohan, 
“he who has entered the stream”; while among the 
Hindus he is called the Parivrajaka, which means 
“the wanderer,’ one who no longer feels that any 
place in the three lower worlds is his abiding place 
or refuge. 





CuaptTer IX 
THE SECOND AND THIRD INITIATIONS 


The candidate who has passed the First Initiation 
has entered definitely upon the Path Proper—the Path 
that leads to Adeptship, to the portal leading out of 
the human kingdom into that of the Superman. Look- 
ing at this Path from below, one might wonder that 
the aspirant is not exhausted after his labors leading 
to the First Initiation, that he does not shrink back 
discouraged by the dizzy heights that he sees rising 
before him on the relentless ever-ascending Path. But 
he has drunk at the fount of life, and his strength is 
as the strength of ten, because his heart is pure, and 
the glory of the ideal humanity, which he sees with 
ever-increasing clearness, has for him an attraction 
and inspiration with which no material stimulus or 
interest can ever compare. 

The first stage of his journey ends in the Second 
Initiation, to achieve which he must cast off three 
samyojana or fetters, which are: 

1. Sakkayaditthi—the delusion of self. 
2. Vichikichcha—doubt or uncertainty. 
3. Silabbataparamasa—superstition. 

The first of these is the “I am I” consciousness 

which, as connected with the personality, is nothing 


170 Tue MASTERS AND THE PatH 


but an illusion, and must be got rid of at the very 
first step of the real upward path. But to cast off 
this fetter completely means even more than this, for 
it involves the realization of the fact that the indi- 
viduality also is in very truth one with the All, that 
it can therefore never have any interests opposed to 
those of its brethren, and that it is most truly pro- 
gressing when it most assists the progress of others. 

As to the second fetter, a word of caution is neces- 
sary. People who have been trained in European 
habits of thought are, unhappily, so familiar with the 
idea that a blind, unreasoning adhesion to certain 
dogmas may be claimed from a disciple of any re- 
ligion, school or sect, that on hearing that in occult- 
ism doubt is considered to be an obstacle to progress, 
they are likely to suppose that this path also requires 
from its followers the same unquestioning faith as 
many modern superstitions do. No idea could be 
more entirely false. 

It is true that doubt (or rather uncertainty) on 
some questions is a bar to spiritual progress, but the 
antidote to that doubt is not blind faith (which is 
itself considered as a fetter, as will presently be seen) 
but the certainty of conviction founded on individual 
experiment or mathematical reasoning. While a child 
doubted the accuracy of the multiplication table, he 
could hardly acquire proficiency in the higher math- 
ematics; but his doubts could be satisfactorily cleared 
up only by his attaining a comprehension, founded 
on reasoning or experiment, that the statements con- 





THE SECOND AND THIRD INITIATIONS 171 


tained in the table are true. He believes that twice 
two are four, not merely because he has been told so, 
but because it has become to him a self-evident fact. 
And this is exactly the method, and the only method, 
of resolving doubt known to occultism. 

Vichikichcha has been defined as doubt of the doc- 
trines of karma and reincarnation, and of the efficacy 
of the method of attaining the highest good by this 
Path of Holiness; but the knowledge of these things 
also brings with it a vivid realization that the world 
is God’s school for man, and that His plan is the 
evolution of the immortal life through the perishing 
forms, and is wonderful and beneficent in every part. 
As he casts off this second fetter, the Initiate arrives 
at absolute certainty, based either upon personal first- 
hand knowledge or upon reason, that the occult teach- 
ing upon these points is true. 

The third fetter, superstition, has been described as 
including all kinds of unreasoning and mistaken be- 
lief, and all dependence upon outward rites and cere- 
monies to purify the heart. He sees that all the meth- 
ods of help offered to us by the great religions— 
prayer, sacraments, pilgrimages, fastings and the ob- 
servation of manifold rites and ceremonies—are helps 
and no more; that the wise man will adopt such of 
them as he finds useful to him but will never trust 
to any of them alone as sufficient to attain salvation. 
He realizes clearly that within himself deliverance 
must be sought and that however valuable these aids 
may be in developing his will, his wisdom and his 


Ly Tue MASTERS AND THE PatTH 


love, they can never take the place of that personal 
effort by which alone he can achieve. The man who 
has cast off this fetter realizes that there is no one 
form of religion which is a necessity for all men, but 
that through any and all alike, and even outside of 
them, the path to the highest may be found. 

These three fetters are in a coherent series. The 
difference between individuality and personality being 
fully realized, it is then possible to some extent to 
appreciate the actual course of reincarnation, and so 
to dispel all doubt on that head. This done, the 
knowledge of the spiritual permanence of the true ego 
brings reliance on one’s own spiritual strength, and 
so dispels superstition. 

Each stage of the Path Proper is divided into four 
steps. The first is its Maggo or Way, during which 
the student is striving to cast off the fetters. The 
second is its Phala, literally fruit or result, when the 
man finds the result of his efforts showing themselves 
more and more. Thirdly comes its Bhavagga or con- 
summation, the period when, the result having cul- 
minated, he is able to fulfill satisfactorily the work 
belonging to the step on which he now firmly stands. 
The fourth is its Gotrabhu, which means the time 
when he has arrived at a fit state to receive the next 
Initiation. 

That the candidate may become Gotrabhu, nothing 
short of complete and entire freedom from the fetters 
of his stage on the Path is absolutely essential. Be- 
fore the man can proceed to the Second Initiation, the 





THE SECOND AND THIRD INITIATIONS 173 


Initiator of that occasion demands evidence as to how 
the candidate has used the powers acquired by him 
at the First Initiation, and one of the most beautiful 
features of the ceremony is the part when those who 
have been helped by the candidate come forward to 
give their testimony. It is also requisite for this 
Initiation that the candidate shall have developed the 
power to function freely in his mental body, for al- 
though the ceremony of the First Initiation is held 
on the astral plane, that of the Second takes place in 
the lower mental world. 

It may seem difficult to reconcile that statement 
with the fact that the Initiations are described as 
taking place in a certain hall or garden; but really 
there is no discrepancy. If the Lord Maitreya acts 
as Initiator, the ceremony usually takes place either 
in His garden or in His great room. He Himself is 
present in His physical body, and so in many cases 
is the Lord Vaivasvata Manu Who lives close by. 
All others present are usually in the astral vehicle in 
the case of the First Initiation but in the mental body 
in the case of the Second. The Great Ones present 
focus Their consciousnesses with perfect ease at what- 
ever level is required, but there is of course on the 
astral and the mental planes a perfect counterpart of 
everything on the physical, and so the accounts given 
are perfectly correct, and the positions taken up in 
relation to physical objects are just as there described. 

Following the plan of earlier chapters, I once more 
give an account of the ceremony: 


174 Tue MASTERS AND THE PATH 


ACCOUNT OF A SECOND INITIATION 


Notice was received that a great gathering of 
Adepts was to take place at the house of the Lord 
Maitreya on the night of the full moon of the month 
of Chaitra, and that advantage would be taken of the 
occurrence of this august assemblage to admit certain 
candidates to the Sakridagamin Initiation, as soon 
after as should be found convenient. That night the 
Master Morya desired the guardians to attend Him 
not later than ten o’clock on the night of the full 
moon, as they were in charge of one of the can- 
didates. : 


On the evening of the full moon many friends from 
India were hovering round, and when the candidates 
and their guardians went to the house of the Master 
Kuthumi, these followed discreetly and waited about 
respectfully in the near distance. Soon after they had 
reached the house, the Master Morya entered. The 
two Masters left almost immediately for the house 
of the Lord Maitreya, the disciples following and 
remaining in the garden while the Masters entered 
the house. 


This garden is on a southern slope of the Hima- 
layas, overlooking a vast expanse of the plains of 
India, which stretch away to the far horizon. It is 
sheltered, lying in a hollow, and protected by a pine 
wood at the back which curves round on the right. 
Beyond this wood, and a little eastwards, is the very 
ancient stone house, with pillared and wide veranda, 





THE SECOND AND THIRD INITIATIONS Lid 


wherein dwells the Manu of our Race, the great Lord 
Vaivasvata. . The garden of the Lord Maitreya was 
flooded with the silver light of the full moon, which 
fell on the great clumps of rhododendrons and on the 
spring flowers in bloom, and shone dazzlingly on the 
white marble seat round the huge tree, the favorite 
resting-place of the Lord Maitreya, which He now 
assumed on issuing from the house. The Masters 
grouped Themselves in a semicircle on the grass ter- 
race just below His seat, taking Their places on His 
right and left. 

On the terrace a step lower stood the two candi- 
dates, between the two Masters who presented them 
—the Master Kuthumi and the Master Djwal Kul. 
Behind them stood the appointed guardians of the 
younger candidate in the lower world. The Manu sat 
a little behind on the right hand of the Bodhisattva, 
and there shone out above Them the glorious figure 
of the Lord Gautama Buddha, Who in His last 
earthly life had accepted from these two candidates 
“the Vow which can never be broken,” and now gave 
His all-powerful benediction to them in the step which 
they were about to take. Near Him was the Maha- 
Chohan, the Head of the five Rays, and between Them 
and a little above Them flashed out later in answer 
to the solemn invocation of the Bodhisattva the 
blazing Star of the One Initiator, the mighty King 
of the Occult Hierarchy, the Lord of the World. 
Such was the exquisite setting of the ceremony of 
Initiation. 


176 Tue MASTERS AND THE PatTH 


The Master Kuthumi and the Master Djwal Kul 
led the two candidates a step forward, and the Bod- 
hisattva asked: 

‘Who are these that you now bring before me?”’. 

The Master Kuthumi answered: 

“These are two Brothers who, having cast off the 
fetters of separateness, doubt and superstition, and 
having reaped the harvest and shown the result of 
their labor, now desire to enter on the Path of the 
Sakridagamin. I present them as Gotrabhu.”’ 

The Lord Maitreya asked: 

“Will you continue to guide these Brothers along 
the Path they seek to enter?” 

The Master replied: 

“T will do so.” 

The Lord said: 

“Our rule requires that two of the higher Brethren 
shall vouch for every candidate who presents himself 
for the second Path. Does any other Brother support 
their prayer?” 

The Master Djwal Kul answered: 

opt do0,”? 

The Lord said, addressing the guardians: 

“You, as two Brothers living in the outer world, 
have taken charge of the younger of these candidates. 
You have had experience in your accepted duty of 
guardianship; are you willing, as the body is still of 
tender age, to persevere in that guardianship and 
to help him as he treads the second Path?” 

They answered: 





Tuer SECOND AND THIRD INITIATIONS 77. 


“We are willing and glad so to do.” 

The Lord asked: 

“Ts your love for him still so strong that the work 
will be pleasant and easy?” 

They answered: 

“Our love for him is even deeper nat it was when 
we began our happy task; he is easy to guide and 
eager to learn.” 

The Lord said to the younger candidate: 

“And is your heart also full of love for these two 
Brothers, and will you continue gladly to submit 
yourself to their guidance, not permitting aught to 
come between your heart and theirs?” 

He answered: 

“T will gladly do so, for I love them both dearly, 
and am grateful to them for their care.” 

The Lord said to the two candidates: 

“You desire then to enter on the Path of the 
Sakridagamin?” 

They answered: 

“We do thus desire, if we are fit to enter on it.” 

The Bodhisattva said: 

“Forasmuch as it is the immemorial custom of this 
Brotherhood, when candidates are presented for each 
successive Initiation, to ask how they have used the 
powers previously conferred upon them; and foras- 
much as a power is only a power when it is used for 
the helping of others; I ask therefore who will testify 
to services done by these candidates since last they 
stood before us, and were admitted into the Brother- 


178 Tue MAsTerRS AND THE PatTH 


hood? What definite work have they done of teach- 
ing? Whom have they helped?” 

As the solemn words clove the surrounding air, 
seeming as if they rang around the world as a sum- 
mons, a great crowd of witnesses surged up from the 
four quarters, and hung silent, gazing with loving 
grateful eyes on the candidates standing in the center. 
The Master Kuthumi spoke: 

“These are they from many nations and from many 
lands who from these, my two pupils, have received 
light, strength and comfort. From the lips of my 
elder son my message has gone forth to many thou- 
sands, and he has labored unceasingly to bring the 
light to those who are in darkness; they are here to 
bear witness. He has also written a book and many 
articles which remain as evidence of his loving labor 
for others. My younger son’—the Master smiled 
tenderly—“‘is yet young in body for public work, but 
he has written a little book which gives to others the 
teaching I gave to him, and tens of thousands love 
him as their guide to us; they also are here, ready to 
bear witness.” 

And many voices cried: ‘We bear witness,” and 
the very air seemed vocal, so multitudinous were the 
testimonies. And the smile of the Bodhisattva grew 
sweet beyond expression as He, the Savior of the 
world, listened to the answer He had evoked. 

The first guardian then spoke: “I bear witness to 
the elder of these candidates, that in time of sore 
trouble and bitter strife he stood in perfect loyalty 


THE SECOND AND THIRD INITIATIONS 179 


to both my Brother and myself, apparently opposed, 
in unshaken strength and sweetness, serene and true. 
I bear witness also to his unwearied and unselfish 
work for others, using all his powers in service. To 
the younger, my beloved ward, I bear witness that he 
is ever seeking to help those whom he meets, and 
shows rare skill in helping, while he sheds around him. 
a radiant love and purity that make his mere pres- 
ence a benediction. All know the value of his price- 
less little book.” 

The second guardian also spoke in the candidates’ 
favor as follows: 

“T also add my testimony in the case of both these 
dear candidates. I bear witness that the elder has. 
rendered to me personally much loyal, affectionate 
and self-sacrificing help and support, and that I have: 
heard from many others of the inspiration and light 
that he has brought into their lives. On behalf of the 
younger candidate I bear witness that I have myself 
seen the evidence of the wonderful love and devotion 
which he has inspired in the members of his Order 
both at Adyar and Benares, and of the change which 
has been produced in them. I have also received 
many letters in which the writers state that they owe 
a new conception of life to the book which he wrote.” 

The Master Kuthumi called from the multitudes 
some who had learned the truth from each candidate, 
who looked to him and followed him as guide. Many 
came forward to acknowledge the help given, each 
speaking what he felt in his heart; and many said 


180 Tue MASTERS AND THE PATH 


that At the Feet of the Master had given them a new 
view of life. Some who had been much helped, but 
could not be brought on this occasion because they 
were awake and engaged in their ordinary avocations, 
were represented by living images made by the Mas- 
ter; and though these could say and do nothing, it is 
probable that some touch of the wonderful influences 
of the hour may have been conveyed through them to 
their originals. The crowd then withdrew, while the 
ceremony proceeded. 

The Bodhisattva then addressed the candidates, 
approving of the work they had done, and expressing 
the hope that the new powers now to be conferred 
upon them would be used as well as those had been 
which they already possessed. He continued: 

“You have cast off forever the three fetters which 
bind your brethren on earth, and your own freedom 
must be used to lessen the weight of these fetters on 
them. You have learned with utter certainty that 
the idea of the separated self is a delusion; you must 
now impress that certainty on your lower vehicles, so 
that in them there shall never be any action or 
thought for the separated self, but that all shall be 
done for the One Self, working through all. Will you 
endeavor to do this, and not cease your efforts until 
you have succeeded?” 

The candidates answered: “I will.” 

The Lord Maitreya said: 

“You have cast off the fetter of doubt, and you 
know surely that evolution is a fact, and that the 


es ee, ee eee 


THE SECOND AND THIRD INITIATIONS 181 


method of evolution is the constant dipping down into 
matter under the law of readjustment. You must 
use the powers now to be conferred upon you for the 
dispelling of doubt in others regarding these vital 
facts, so that they may share in the knowledge you 
have gained—gained surely not for yourselves alone. 
Will you then use your powers for the enlightening 
of others?” 

The candidates answered: 

“T will so use them.” 

The Lord Maitreya: 

“You have transcended all superstition; you know 
that a man may find the light in any religion; you 
know that rites and ceremonies have no intrinsic 
value, and that all which is done by them can be 
done without them by knowledge and by will. Above: 
all, you are free from the superstition of the wrath 
of the Power behind evolution, and you know that all 
that exists is within the Universal Love, and that it 
is the gospel of Universal Love which you must spread 
among men. Will you seek to lift the darkness by 
spreading this gospel?” 

The candidates answered: 

Seiwa}? 

Then the Lord Maitreya added: 

“Never forget that there is no darkness save that. 
which is made by ignorance and delusion. It was 
well said: ‘Every good gift and every perfect gift 
is from above, and cometh down from the Father of 
Lights, in Whom is no variableness, neither shadow 


182 Tue MASTERS AND THE PATH 


of turning.’ In Him is no darkness at all, but men 
turn their backs on His Light, and then walk in their 
own shadows, crying out that it is dark.” 

The candidates were then put through some tests 
as to work on the mental plane. They had to ex- 
amine people in the heaven-world, such as would be 
placed under their care in the future, and the Lord 
asked them what they would do to help each case, 
having in view the limitations under which their 
charges would be laboring. One case was that of a 
medieval monk, very full of devotion, but with ex- 
ceedingly limited ideas concerning God, the Saints 
and the Church, and the Lord questioned them as to 
what they would do to help his growth. 

All that passes during the Second Initiation is done 
on the mental plane, and all are working in their 
mental bodies, not in the ordinary mayavi-rupa which 
they would use on the astral plane. 

After this testing was over, and the candidates had 
successfully answered the questions addressed to 
them, they were led up to the Lord Maitreya and 
knelt before Him. He rose, and turning towards 
Shamballa, He cried aloud: 

“Do I this, O Lord of Light and Life and Glory, 
in Thy Name and for Thee?” 

Then over Him blazed out the flashing Star, giving 
the consent of the One Initiator, and the august 
figure of the Lord Gautama Buddha shone out with 
more blinding brilliance, while He raised His right 
hand in blessing. The Maha-Chohan also rose to add 





THE SECOND AND THIRD INITIATIONS 183 


His benediction, as the Bodhisattva laid His hands in 
turn on each bowed head, and all bent low in reverent 
homage before the Mighty Ones; and there was 
silence. 

In that stillness the Key of Knowledge was given, 
the Bodhisattva pouring out from His own mental 
and causal bodies rays of power which, falling on the 
mental and causal bodies of the newly initiated, stim- 
ulated into sudden and splendid growth the germs of 
similar powers therein existing. As though a bud, 
stimulated by the sun-rays, should suddenly burst 
into all the glory of the opened flower, so did their 
mental and causal bodies suddenly unfold the powers 
latent within them, expanding into radiant beauty. 
Through them, thus expanded, intuition could freely 
play, the great new power thus set free to work. And 
the Lord Maitreya said: 

“Take now this new power which I give you and 
trust yourself to it fearlessly. Bring your lower 
vehicles into such order and responsiveness that it 
may pass freely through them to your physical brain, 
and guide your conduct unerringly. So shall it shine 
upon the way which lies before you, and prepare you 
to enter upon the Third Path.” 

He ended with the great benediction, and the Star 
and the august Figures near it vanished, all again 
bending low in reverence, and the great ceremony was 
over. 

The assembled Masters then left Their places, and 
each spoke a few kind words to the newly initiated, 


184 Tue MASTERS AND THE PATH 


and blessed them. The Master Kuthumi also ad- 
dressed a kindly word to the crowd who had borne 
witness—who had withdrawn to some distance, as 
said above, but were now permitted again to ap- 
proach to bid farewell to their leaders, who, in the 
light of the new knowledge just attained, gave some 
advice to each of these followers, and dismissed them 
with a blessing. 


The Second Initiation rapidly continues the devel- 
opment of the mental body, and at or near this point 
the pupil learns to use the mayavi-rupa, which is 
sometimes translated as the body of illusion. This 
is a temporary astral body made by one who is able 
to function in his mental body. When a man travels 
in the astral plane, he usually does so in the astral 
body; and if it were necessary for him to show him- 
self on the physical plane while he was functioning 
in his astral body, he would have to materialize a 
physical body round it. This is sometimes done, 
though not frequently, because it involves a great 
expenditure of force. Similarly, if he were working 
in his mental body and desired to manifest himself 
on the astral plane, he would need to materialize a 
temporary astral body, which is the mayavi-rupa. 
When he had finished his work, he would withdraw to 
the mental plane once more, and the temporary body 
would vanish, its materials returning to the general 
circulation of astral matter whence they had been 
drawn by the pupil’s will. 





THE SECOND AND THIRD INITIATIONS 185 


Up to the time of the First Initiation the man 
works at night in his astral body; but as soon as 
it is perfectly under control and he is able to use 
it fully, work in the mental body is begun. When 
that body in turn is completely organized, it is a far 
more flexible vehicle than the astral body, and much 
that is impossible on the astral plane can be accom- 
plished therein. With the power to form the mayavi- 
rupa, the man is able to pass instantly from the men- 
tal plane to the astral and back, and to use at all 
times the greater power and keener sense of the men- 
tal plane, and it is only necessary to form the astral 
materialization when he wants to become visible to 
people in the astral world. It is necessary that the 
Master shall first show His pupil how to make the 
mayavi-rupa, after which, although it is not at first 
an easy matter, he can do it for himself. 

A very great expansion and development of the 
mental body takes place in connection with this Sec- 
ond Initiation, but it usually some years before the 
effects of this can show themselves in the physical 
brain. As they begin to do so they unquestionably 
put a great strain upon that brain, as it cannot be 
instantaneously tuned to the necessary pitch. 

The period after the taking of the Second Initiation 
is in many ways the most dangerous that the candi- 
date must pass through anywhere on the Path, 
although at any point until the Fifth Initiation is 
passed there is the possibility of falling back or of 
spending many incarnations wandering about. But 


186 Tue MASTERS AND THE PatH 


it is at this stage especially that if there is any weak- 
ness in a candidate’s character it will find him out. 
It should be impossible for a man who has raised 
himself to this height to fall back; but unfortunately 
experience has shown us that even this does some- 
times happen. In nearly all cases the danger comes 
through pride; if there is the least tinge of pride in 
the man’s nature, he is in serious risk of a fall. What 
we talk about down here as intellect is the merest 
reflection of the real thing; yet some of us are proud 
of that, proud of our intellect and insight. So when 
a man gets even a remote glimpse of what his intel- 
lect is going to be in the future there is serious danger, 
and if he once starts on that line he will have a ter- 
ribly hard time getting back again. Nothing but 
unceasing and increasing vigilance can enable him 
to pass through this stage successfully, and it must 
be his constant endeavor to kill out every trace of 
pride, selfishness and prejudice. 

When we know these things from behind, we find 
sudden and curious illumination thrown upon various 
texts of the Bible. This danger point in the life of 
the Initiate is indicated in the Gospel story by the 
temptation in the wilderness which followed the Bap- 
tism of Christ by John. The forty days in the Wil- 
derness symbolize the period during which the expan- 
sion of the mental body given in the Second Initiation 
is being worked down into the physical brain, though 
for the ordinary candidate some forty years or longer 
might well be required for its accomplishment. In 


Ee — 


THE SECOND AND THIRD INITIATIONS 187 


the life of Jesus it was the period when His brain 
was being adapted to the incoming Christ. Then the 
Devil, who in the symbolism represents the lower 
nature, comes to tempt the Initiate, first to use his 
powers for the satisfaction of his own needs: “If thou 
be the Son of God, command that these stones be 
made bread.” Then he is tempted to cast himself 
down from a pinnacle of the temple, thus performing 
a miracle which would astound the populace. And 
lastly he is shown all the kingdoms of the world and 
the glory of them, and the Devil says: ‘All these 
things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and 
worship me”—he is tempted to use his powers to 
gratify his own ambition. Each of these temptations 
represents a different form of pride. 

Just as the First Great Initiation corresponds to a 
new birth, so may the Second Initiation be justly 
compared to the baptism of the Holy Ghost and of 
Fire; for it is the power of the Third Person of the 
Blessed Trinity that is outpoured at that moment, 
descending in what may but inadequately be described 
as a flood of Fire, a flaming tide of living Light. The 
man at this stage is spoken of among the Buddhists 
as a Sakadagamin, the man who returns but once, 
which means that he who has reached that level should 
need but one more incarnation before attaining 
Arhatship, the Fourth Initiation, after which there is 
no compulsory physical rebirth. The Hindu name for 
this second step is the Kutichaka, the man who builds 
a hut, he who has reached a place of peace. At this 


188 Tue MASTERS AND THE PatTH 


stage no additional fetters are cast off, but it is usu- 
ally a period of considerable psychic and intellectual 
advancement. If what are commonly called psychic 
faculties have not been previously acquired, they must 
be developed at this stage, as without them it would 
be impossible to assimilate the knowledge which must 
now be given, or to do the higher work for humanity 
in which the Initiate is now privileged to assist. He 
must have the astral consciousness at his command 
during his physical waking life, and during sleep the 
heaven-world will be open before him—for the con- 
sciousness of a man when away from his physical 
body is always one stage higher than it is while he 
is still burdened with the house of flesh. 

When the candidate has’ passed through the four 
sub-stages of the Second Initiation, and has once more 
become Gotrabhu he is ready for the Third Initiation, 
to become the Anagamin, which means literally “he 
who does not return,” for it is expected of him that 
he will attain the next Initiation in the same incarna- 
tion. The Hindu name for this stage is the Hamsa, 
which means a swan, but the word is also considered 
to be a form of the sentence so-ham, “That am I.” 
There is a tradition, too, that the swan is able to 
separate milk from water, and the sage is similarly 
able to realize the true value for living beings of the 
phenomena of life. 

This Initiation is typified in the Christian symbol- 
ism by the Transfiguration of the Christ. He went 
up into a high mountain apart, and was transfigured 





THE SECOND AND THIRD INITIATIONS 189 


before His disciples: “His face did shine as the sun, 
and His raiment was white as the light,” “exceeding 
white as snow so as no fuller on earth can white 
them.” This description suggests the Augoeides, the 
glorified man, and it is no inaccurate picture of what 
happens at this Initiation, for just as the Second 
Great Initiation is principally concerned with the 
quickening of the lower mental body, so at this stage. 
the causal body is especially developed. The ego is 
brought more closely into touch with the Monad, and 
is thus transfigured in very truth. Even the person- 
ality is affected by that wondrous outpouring. The 
higher and the lower self became one at the First Ini- 
tiation, and that unity is never lost, but the develop- 
ment of the higher self that now takes place can never 
be mirrored in the lower worlds of form, although 
the two are one to the greatest possible extent. 

The Gospel story tells also that at the Transfigura- 
tion there appeared Moses and Elijah, the two chief 
figures of the old dispensation; one the greatest of 
the Jewish prophets, the other representing the Jewish 
law. Thus the two dispensations or methods of ap- 
proach to truth, that of the following of the law and 
that of the inspiration of prophecy, are represented 
as with Him who was about to establish a new dis- 
pensation, that of the Gospel; and all these symbols 
have meanings referring to the actual facts of the 
Third Initiation. 

Another symbol relating to the same step appears 
in the Gospel story of the presentation of the Christ 


190 Tue Masters AND THE PaTH 


to His Father in the temple. In the traditional ac- 
count this is somewhat out of place, for the Christ is 
then presented as a little child. At this stage of the 
man’s progress he has to be brought before the Spirit- 
ual King of the World, the mighty Head of the Oc- 
cult Hierarchy, Who at this third step either confers 
the Initiation Himself, or deputes one of His pupils, 
the three Lords of the Flame Who came with Him 
from Venus to do so; and in the latter event the man 
is presented to the King soon after the Initiation has 
taken place. Thus the Christ is brought into the 
presence of His Father; the buddhi-in the Initiate is 
raised until it becomes one with its origin on the nir- 
vanic plane and a very wonderful union between the 
first and the second principles in man is then effected: 

The Anagamin enjoys, while moving through the 
round of his daily work, all the splendid possibilities 
given by the full possession of the faculties of the 
higher mental plane, and when he leaves his physical 
vehicle at night he enters once more into the wonder- 
fully widened consciousness that belongs to the 
buddhic plane. While in this stage he has to throw 
off any lingering remains of what are called the fourth 
and fifth fetters, kamaraga and patigha, attachment 
to the enjoyment of sensation, typified by earthly 
love, and all possibility of anger or hatred. The as- 
pirant must free himself from the possibility of being 
enslaved in any way by external things. It is not 
by any means that he will not feel the attraction of 
what is pleasant or beautiful or clean, nor the repul- 


an ie sine a 


THE SECOND AND THIRD INITIATIONS 191 


sion of the opposites of these things, and will not take 
them into account in the course of his work. But 
he will not let them be a deciding element in duty, 
and will override them entirely on those emergency 
occasions when it is necessary for his work. 

Here we must guard against a possible misconcep- 
tion—one with which we frequently meet. The purest 
and noblest human love never dies away—is never in 
any way diminished by occult training; on the con- 
trary, it is increased and widened until it embraces all 
with the same fervor which at first was lavished on 
one or two. But the student does in time rise above 
all considerations connected with the mere personality 
of those around him, and so is free from all the in- 
justice and partiality which ordinary love so often 
brings in its train. 

Nor should it for a moment be supposed that in 
gaining this wide affection for all, he loses the es- 
pecial love for his closer friends. The unusually per- 
fect link between Ananda and the Lord Buddha, as 
between St. John and the Christ, is on record to prove 
that, on the contrary, this is enormously intensified; 
and the tie between a Master and His pupils is_ 
stronger far than any earthly bond. For the affec- 
tion which flourishes upon the Path of Holiness is an 
affection between egos, not merely between personal- 
ities; therefore it is strong and permanent, without 
fear of diminution or fluctuation, for it is that “per- 
fect love which casteth out fear.” 


CHAPTER X 
THE HIGHER INITIATIONS 


It will simplify matters for the student if he thinks 
of the four stages on the path to Adeptship as in two 
divisions, and groups together the foregoing three 
stages in the first. They are the stages during which 
the buddhic consciousness is being evolved to its per- 
fection; but at the Fourth Initiation the candidate 
enters the nirvanic plane, and he is engaged from now 
onward in climbing steadily through that, or rather 
through that division of it, consisting of its five lower 
subplanes, on which the human ego has being. This 
Initiation may also be thought of as a midway point, 
as it is usually said that seven lives are occupied in 
the average case at normal times between the First 
and the Fourth Initiations, and seven lives also be- 
tween the Fourth and Fifth; but these figures are 
capable of very great reduction or increase, as I have 
said before, and the actual period of time employed 
is in most cases not very great, since usually the lives 
are taken in immediate succession, without interludes 
in the heaven-world. 

The candidate who has passed the Fourth Initiation 
is spoken of in Buddhist terminology as the Arhat, 
which means the worthy, the capable, the venerable 


: 
| 





Tue Hicuer INITIATIONS 193 


or perfect, and in the Eastern books very many beau- 
tiful things are said about him, for they realize at 
what a high level of evolution he stands. The Hindus 
call him the Paramahamsa, the one above or beyond 
the Hamsa. 

In Christian symbology the Fourth Initiation is in- 
dicated by the suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane, 
the Crucifixion and the Resurrection of the Christ; 
though since there are certain preliminary stages it 
may be more completely symbolized by the various 
events that are said to have taken place during Holy 
Week. The first event in the series was that the 
Christ raised Lazarus from the dead; and this is al- 
Ways commemorated on the Saturday before Palm 
Sunday, though according to the Gospel narrative it 
took place a week or two earlier. On the Sunday, 
there was the triumphal entry into Jerusalem; on 
Monday and Tuesday the delivery of a number of 
addresses in the temple; on Wednesday the betrayal 
by Judas Iscariot; on Thursday the Founding of the 
Holy Eucharist; on the night between Thursday and 
Friday the trials before Pilate and Herod, and on 
Good Friday the Crucifixion. Holy Saturday was 
spent in the grave, and at midnight on Saturday, or 
rather at the first moment on Sunday morning, Christ 
rose from the dead, triumphant for evermore. 

All these details of the Christ-drama have a rela- 
tion to what really happens in connection with the 
Fourth Initiation. The Christ did something unusual 
and wonderful in the raising of Lazarus on the Sat- 


194 Tue Masters AND THE PatTH 


urday, and it was very largely as a result of that that 
he enjoyed His one earthly triumph soon after, for 
all the people came together when they heard of the 
raising of the dead man. They waited for Him, and 
when He came out from the house to go on the way 
to Jerusalem they received Him with an ovation and 
a great display of feeling, and treated Him as in the 
East they still treat anyone whom they think to be 
holy; so He was escorted by the people with great 
enthusiasm into Jerusalem, and having won that little 
earthly recognition, He naturally took the opportun- 
ity of teaching them, and gave the. addresses in the 
temple to which great crowds came to see and hear 
Him. This is symbolical of what really takes place. 
The Initiate attracts some attention, and gains a cer-. 
tain amount of popularity and recognition. Then 
there is always the traitor to turn upon him and dis- 
tort what he has said and done so that it appears to 
be evil; as Ruysbroek puts it: 

“Sometimes these unhappy ones are deprived of the 
good things of earth, of their friends and relations, 
and are deserted by all creatures; their holiness is 
mistrusted and despised, men put a bad construction 
on all the works of their life, and they are rejected 
and disdained by all those who surround them; and 
sometimes they are afflicted with divers diseases.” 

Then follows a rain of obloquy and abuse, and His 
rejection by the world. After that comes the scene in 
the Garden of Gethsemane when the Christ feels Him- 
self utterly forsaken; and then He is held up to de- 








Tue Hicuer INITIATIONS 195 


rision and crucified. Finally there is the ery from 
the cross: “My God, my God, why hast Thou for- 
saken me?” 

Madame Blavatsky held a theory which she ex- 
pounded in The Secret Doctrine, which I am not able 
personally to verify, that the real meaning of those 
words was, “My God, my God, how Thou dost 
glorify me!” I do not know which of the two render- 
ings is the more accurate, but there is great truth in 
both of them. It is one of the features of the Fourth 
Initiation that the man shall be left entirely alone. 
First he has to stand alone on the physical plane; 
all his friends turn against him through some misun- 
derstanding; it all comes right afterwards, but for the 
time the man is left with the feeling that all the world 
is against him. Perhaps that is not so great a trial, 
but there is another and inner side to it; for he has 
also to experience for a moment the condition called 
Avichi, which means “the waveless,”’ that which is 
without vibration. The state of Avichi is not, as has 
been popularly supposed, some kind of hell, but it is 
a condition in which the man stands absolutely alone 
in space, and feels cut off from all life, even from 
that of the Logos; and it is without doubt the most 
ghastly experience that it is possible for any human 
being to have. It is said to last only for a moment, 
but those who have felt it have the impression that 
it lasted very much longer, for time and space do not 
exist at that level. That terrible experience has, I 
think, two results—that the candidate may be able 


196 Tue MASTERS AND THE PaTH 


to sympathize with those to whom Avichi comes 
as a result of their actions, and that he may learn to 
stand cut off from everything external, and test and 
realize his own utter certainty that he is one with the 
Logos, and that any such feeling of loneliness must be 
but an illusion. ‘There have been those who have 
fallen at that very terrible test, and have had to go 
back and begin their Initiation work over again; but 
for the man who can endure it without flinching, it 
is certainly a very wonderful experience, however ter- 
rible, so that while to the trial itself the interpreta- 
tion ‘‘Why hast Thou forsaken me” might be applied, 
“How Thou dost glorify me!” would certainly not be 
an untrue expression of the feeling of the man when 
he comes forth from it victorious. 

This Initiation differs from all the others in that 
it has this strange double aspect of suffering and 
victory. Each of the earlier Initiations was symbol- 
ized in the Christian system by one definite fact, the 
Birth, the Baptism, the Transfiguration; but in order 
to represent this Fourth Initiation a series of events 
have been found necessary. The Crucifixion and all 
the varied sufferings of which it was the culmination 
were employed to typify one side of this Initiation, 
while the Resurrection with its triumph over death 
represents the other side. Always at this stage there 
is suffering, physical, astral and mental; always there 
is the condemnation by the world, and the apparent 
failure; always there is the splendid triumph upon 
higher planes—which, however, remains unknown to 


~— eo 2”)60 le ee eee ee 


—— ——-——— 





Tue HicHer INITIATIONS 197 


the outer world. The peculiar type of suffering which 
invariably accompanies this Initiation clears off any 
arrears of karma which may still stand in the Initi- 
ate’s way; and the patience and joyousness with 
which he endures them have great value in the 
strengthening of his character, and help to determine 
the extent of his usefulness in the work which lies 
before him. 

The Crucifixion and Resurrection which symbolize 
the actual Initiation are thus described in an ancient 
Egyptian formula: 

Then shall the candidate be bound upon the wooden cross, 
he shall die, he shall be buried, and shall descend into the 


underworld; after the third day he shall be brought back from 
the dead. 


Only after three clear days and nights and part of 
a fourth had passed was the still entranced candidate 
of those ancient days raised from the sarcophagus in 
which he had lain, and borne into the outer air at the 
eastern side of the pyramid or temple, so that the first 
rays of the rising sun might fall upon his face and 
awaken him from his long sleep. 

There is an old proverb, “No cross, no crown,” 
which may be taken to mean that without man’s 
descent into matter, his binding on the cross of mat- 
ter, it would have been impossible for him to gain the 
resurrection and receive the crown of glory; but by 
the limitation and through the sorrow and trouble he 
has gained the victory. It is impossible for us to 
describe that resurrection; all words that we can em- 


198 Tue Masters AND THE PatH 


ploy seem to sully its splendor, and any attempt at 
description seems almost blasphemy; but this much 
may be said, that a complete victory has been gained 
over all sorrows, troubles and difficulties, temptations 
and trials, and it is his forever because he has con- 
quered by knowledge and inner strength. We may 
recall how the Lord Buddha proclaimed His freedom: 
Many a House of life 
Hath held me—seeking ever him who wrought 


These prisons of the senses, sorrow-fraught ; 
Sore was my ceaseless strife! 


But now 

Thou Builder of this syainrseaiva Paacg iran 

I know Thee! Never shalt Thou build again 
These walls of pain, 

Nor raise the roof-tree of deceits, nor lay 
Fresh rafters on the clay; 

Broken Thy house is, and the ridge-pole split! 
Delusion fashioned it! 

Safe pass I thence—deliverance to obtain. 

For the Arhat henceforth the consciousness of the 
buddhic plane is his while still in the physical body, 
and when he leaves that body in sleep or trance, he 
passes at once into the unutterable glory of the nir- 
vanic plane. At his Initiation he must have at least 
one glimpse of that nirvanic consciousness, just as 
at the First Initiation there must be a momentary 
experience of the buddhic, and now his daily effort 
will be to reach further and further up into the nir- 
vanic plane. It is a task of prodigious difficulty, but 
gradually he will find himself able to work upwards 
into that ineffable splendor. 

The entry into it is utterly bewildering, and it 


Tue Hicguer INITIATIONS 199 


brings as its first sensation an intense vividness of 
life, surprising even to him who is familiar with the 
buddhic plane. This surprise has been his before, 
though in a lesser measure, whenever he mounted for 
the first time from one plane to another. Even when 
we rise first in full and clear consciousness from the 
physical plane to the astral, we find the new life to 
be so much wider than any that we have hitherto 
known that we exclaim: “I thought I knew what life 
was, but I have never known before!’”’ When we pass 
into the mental plane, we find the same feeling re- 
doubled; the astral was wonderful, but it was noth- 
ing to the mental world. When we pass into the 
higher mental plane, again we have the same experi- 
ence. At every step the same surprise comes over 
again, and no thought beforehand can prepare one 
for it, because it is always far more stupendous than 
anything that we can imagine, and life on all those 
higher planes is an intensity of bliss for which no 
words exist. 

European Orientalists have translated nirvana as 
annihilation, because the word means “blown out,” as 
the light of a candle is extinguished by a breath. 
Nothing could be a more complete antithesis of the 
truth. Certainly it is the annihilation of all that 
down here we know as man, because there he is no 
longer man, but God in man, a God among other 
Gods, though less than they. 

Try to imagine the whole universe filled with and 
consisting of an immense torrent of living light, the 


200 Tue MASTERS AND THE PatTH 


whole moving, moving onward, without relativity, a 
resistless onward sweep of a vast sea of light, light 
with a purpose, if that is comprehensible, tremen- 
dously concentrated, but absolutely without strain or 
effort—words fail. At first we feel nothing but the 
bliss of it, and see nothing but the intensity of the 
light; but gradually we begin to realize that even in 
this dazzling brightness there are brighter spots 
(nuclei, as it were) through which the light obtains a 
new quality that enables it to become perceptible on 
lower planes, whose inhabitants without this aid would 
be altogether beneath the possibility of sensing its 
effulgence. Then by degrees we begin to realize that 
these subsidiary suns are the Great Ones, the Plane- 
tary Spirits, Great Angels, Karmic Deities, Dhyan 
Chohans, Buddhas, Christs and Masters, and many 
others Who are to us not even names, and that 
through Them the light and the life are flowing down 
to the lower planes. 

Little by little, as we become more accustomed to 
this marvelous reality, we begin to see that we are 
one with Them, though far below the summit of Their 
splendor, part of the One that dwells somehow in 
Them all, and also in every point of space between; 
and that we ourselves are also a focus, and through 
us at our much lower level the light and life are 
flowing to those who are still further away (not from 
it, for all are part of it, and there is nothing else 
anywhere) but from the realization of it, the com- 
prehension and experience of it. 





Tue Hiauer INITIATIONS 201 


Madame Blavatsky often spoke of that conscious- 
ness as having its center everywhere and its circum- 
ference nowhere, a profoundly suggestive sentence, 
attributed variously to Pascal, Cardinal de Cusa and 
the Zohar, but belonging by right to the Books of 
Hermes. Far indeed from annihilation is such con- 
sciousness; the Initiate reaching it has not in the least 
lost the sense that he is himself; his memory is per- 
fectly continuous; he is the same man, yet all this 
as well, and now indeed he can say “I am |” knowing 
what “I” really means. It may sound strange, but 
it is true. No words that we can use can give even 
the least idea of such an experience as that, for all 
with which our minds are acquainted has long ago 
disappeared before that level is attained. There is, 
of course, even at that level, a sheath of some sort for 
the spirit, impossible to describe, for in one sense it 
seems as though it were an atom and yet in another 
it seems to be the whole plane. The man feels as if 
he were everywhere, but could focus anywhere within 
himself, and wherever for a moment the outpouring 
of force diminishes, that is for him a body. 

The man who has once realized that marvelous 
unity can never forget it, can never be quite as he 
was before; for however deeply he may veil himself 
in lower vehicles in order to help and save others, 
however closely he may be bound to the cross of 
matter, cribbed, cabined and confined, he can never 
forget that his eyes have seen the King in His Beauty, 
that he has beheld the land which is very far off— 


202 Tue MASTERS AND THE PatTH 


very far off, yet very near, within us all the time if 
we could only see it, because to reach Nirvana we 
need not go away to some far-distant heaven, but 
only open our consciousness to its glory. As the 
Lord Buddha said long ago: “Do not complain and 
cry and pray, but open your eyes and see; for the 
light is all about you, and it is so wonderful, so beau- 
tiful, so far beyond anything that men have ever 
dreamed of or prayed for, and it is for ever and for 
ever.” 

“The land that is very far off” is a quotation from 
the Prophet Isaiah, but strangely enough it is a mis- 
translation. Isaiah did not speak of the land which 
is very far off, but of the land of far distances, which 
is a very different idea and one of great beauty. It 
suggests that the Prophet had had some experiences 
of these higher planes, and was comparing in his 
thought the splendor of the star-strewn fields of 
heaven with the cramped catacombs through which 
we crawl on earth; for that is what this life is as 
compared with that higher one, a blind crawling 
through dark and devious ways as compared with a 
splendid purposeful life, an utter realization of the 
divine will ensouling and working through the wills 
of those who dwell therein. 

A mighty work the Arhat has before him to climb 
to the topmost heights of that utmost of human planes 
of existence, and while he is doing it he must cast off 
the remaining five of the ten great fetters, which are: 

6. Ruparaga—desire for beauty of form or for 





0 Sk eee 





Tue HicHer INITIATIONS 203 


physical existence in a form, even including that in 
the heaven-world. 

7. Aruparaga—desire for formless life. 

8. Mano—pride. 

9. Uddhachcha—agitation or irritability, the pos- 
sibility of being disturbed by anything. 

10. Avtjja—ignorance. 

The sixth and seventh fetters include not only the 
idea of Raga, or attraction, but also that of dwesha 
or repulsion, and the casting off of these fetters im- 
plies a quality of character such that nothing in the 
lower planes of form or the higher and formless planes 
ean hold him by its attraction even for a moment, or 
can deter him by its disagreeableness if he has work 
therein. As the eighth fetter, Mano, is filed away, 
he forgets the greatness of his own achievements, and 
pride becomes impossible for him, since now he stands 
always in the light, and measures himself against no 
lower thing. Then comes the perfect serenity which 
naught can disturb, leaving him free to acquire all 
knowledge, to become practically omniscient as re- 
gards our planetary chain. 

Now does the Candidate approach the Fifth Initia- 
tion, that of the Adept; “he hath wrought the purpose 
through of that which made him man,” so now he 
takes the final step that makes him Superman— 
Asekha, as the Buddhists call Him, because He has 
no more to learn, and has exhausted the possibilities 
of the human kingdom of nature; Jivanmukta, as the 
Hindus speak of Him, a liberated life, a free being, 


204 Tuer MASTERS AND THE PaTH 


free not because of any separate independence, but 
because His will is one with the universal Will, that 
of the One without a second. He stands ever in the 
light of Nirvana, even in His waking consciousness, 
should He choose to remain on earth in a physical 
body, and when out of that body He rises still higher 
into the Monadic plane, beyond not merely our words 
but our thought. Hear again the Lord Buddha: 


‘“’ , . Measure not with words 

The Immeasurable; nor sink the string of thought 
Into the Fathomless. Who asks doth err, 

Who answers, errs. Say naught!” 


In Christian symbolism the Ascension and the De- 
scent of the Holy Ghost stand for the attainment of 
Adeptship, for the Adept does ascend clear above 
humanity, beyond this earth; although if He so 
chooses, as did the Christ, He may return to teach 
and help. As He ascends He becomes one with the 
Holy Ghost, and invariably the first thing He does 
with His new power is to pour it down upon His dis- 
ciples, even as the Christ poured down tongues of fire 
upon the heads of His followers at the Feast of Pen- 
tecost. A glance at any of the diagrams showing the 
principles in man, which have been published in 
earlier books, will show the relation between the 
manifestations of the Logos in the Prakritic Cosmic 
plane and in the soul of man; we shall see that the 
triple atma, the threefold spirit of man, lies in the 
lower part of the nirvanic or spiritual plane, and that 








Tue Higuer INITIATIONS 205 


the lowest manifestation of the Third Person, God 
the Holy Ghost, is in the higher part of the same 
plane. The Adept becomes one with Him at that 
level, and that is the real explanation of the Christian 
feast of Whitsunday, the festival of the Holy Spirit. 
It is on account of unity with Him that the Asekha 
can take pupils; the Arhat, though he has very much 
to teach, still works under an Adept, acts for Him 
and carries out His orders on the physical plane, but 
does not take pupils for himself, because he has not 
yet that special link with the Holy Ghost. 

Above the Initiation of the Adept lies that of the 
Chohan, and further on still others, of which I will 
speak in the chapter on the Occult Hierarchy. The 
ladder of being extends up into clouds of light, into 
which few of us as yet can penetrate, and when we 
ask Those who stand higher than we and know in- 
finitely more than we do, all They can say is that 
it extends beyond Their sight also. They know very 
many more steps of it than we do, but it goes still 
further, onward and upward to unimaginable heights 
of glory, and no one knows its end. 

Although what I have just said is perfectly accu- 
rate, that none of us can see the end of that ladder, 
and that the work of Those in the higher ranks of the 
Hierarchy is almost incomprehensible, still I wish to 
make it perfectly clear that Their existence and work 
is as real and definite as anything in the world—nay, 
more so, and that there is not the slightest vagueness 
about our vision of Those Great Ones. Though I 


206 Tue MASTERS AND THE PaTH 


know but little about the higher part of His work, 
for many years past I have seen the Bodhisattva 
constantly, almost daily, engaged in that work, and 
I have very many times seen the Lord of the World 
in His wonderful and incomprehensible existence; so 
that They are to me people just as real as any whom 
I know, and I am as certain as I can possibly be of 
Their existence and of something of the part that 
They play in the world. 

Of the tremendous truth of what I can say about 
Them I am utterly certain, and yet I cannot explain 
Them, nor understand more than a fragment of what 
They are doing. I have seen Dhyan Chohans and 
Planetary Spirits and Ambassadors from other solar 
systems, and I know absolutely of the existence and 
transcendent glory of those people, but what Their 
tremendous life work may be I do not know at all. 
I have myself seen the Manifestation of the Logos of 
the Solar System, seen Him as He is among His Peers, 
and yet millions of times more than the unspeakable 
grandeur that I have seen in Him must be that which 
They see when They look at Him. As Arjuna in 
The Bhagavad Gita is said to have seen the Divine 
Form, so have I seen, without the shadow of a doubt. 
And I want to put my testimony on record that these 
things are so. I dare say that I lay myself open to 
a certain amount of scorn for writing this; people 
will ask, “Who are you, to say these things?” But 
I have seen, and it would be cowardly to refuse to 
bear witness. 





Tue HIGHER INITIATIONS 207 


I have repeatedly declared, both in speech and in 
writing, that I wish no one to base his belief in The- 
osophy upon any assertion of mine. I think that each 
man should study the system for himself and come 
to his own conclusions, the fundamental reason for 
his acceptance of any doctrine being either that he 
knows it from his own experience or that he finds it 
the most reasonable hypothesis at present before him. 
But that in no way alters the fact that I have evi- 
dence to give to those who care to listen to it—evi- 
dence which I have placed before them in this and 
other books. We who write upon Theosophy in this 
twentieth century can fully reaffirm St. John’s plain 
statement of nearly two thousand years ago: 

“That which was from the beginning, which we 
have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which 
we have looked upon and our hands have handled 

. that which we have seen and heard declare we 
unto you.” 

We who have seen bear witness; whether the world 
accepts our testimony makes little difference to us. 

Whoso has felt the Spirit of the Highest, 
Cannot confound nor doubt Him nor deny: 


Yea, with one voice, O world, though thou deniest, 
Stand thou on that side, for on this am I. 


Immediately beyond the Asekha Initiation this 
higher Path opens up in seven great ways, among 
which the Adept must take His choice, and on this 
subject I cannot do better than quote what was said 
in Man: Whence, How and Whither: 


208 Tue MAsTeRS AND THE PATH 


When the human kingdom is traversed, and man stands on 
the threshold of His superhuman life, a liberated Spirit, seven 
paths open before Him for His choosing: He may enter into 
the blissful omniscience and omnipresence of Nirvana, with 
activities far beyond our knowledge, to become, perchance, in 
some future world an Avatara, or divine Incarnation: this is 
sometimes called “taking the Dharmakaya vesture.” He may 
enter on “the Spiritual Period”— a phrase covering unknown 
meanings, among them probably that of “taking the Sambho- 
gakaya vesture.’ He may become part of that treasure-house 
of spiritual forces on which the Agents of the Logos draw for 
Their work, “taking the Nirmanakaya vesture.” He may re- 
main a member of the Occult Hierarchy which rules and 
guards the world in which He has reached perfection. He may 
pass on to the next Chain, to aid in building up its forms. 
He may enter the splendid Angel or Deva Evolution. He 
may give Himself to the immediate service of the Logos, to 
be used by Him in any part of the Solar System, His Servant 
and Messenger, who lives but to carry out His will and do 
His work over the whole of the system which He rules. As 
a General has his staff, the members of which carry his mes- 
sages to any part of the field, so are These the Staff of Him 
Who commands all, “Ministers of His that do His pleasure.” 
This seems to be considered a very hard Path, perhaps the 
greatest sacrifice open to the Adept, and is therefore regarded 
as carrying with it great distinction. A member of the Gen- 
eral Staff has no physical body, but makes one for Himself by 
kriyashakti—the “power to make”—of the matter of the globe 
to which He is sent. The Staff contains Beings at very dif- 
ferent levels, from that: of Arhatship upwards. 


The man who takes the Dharmakaya robe retires 
into the Monad, and drops even his nirvanic atom; 
the Sambhogakaya retains His nirvanic atom and 
shows Himself as the Triple Spirit, and the Nirman- 
akaya retains His causal body and also the perma- 
nent atoms which He has carried all through His 
evolution, so that at any moment He can materialize 
round them mental, astral and physical bodies, if He 
so desires. He definitely keeps His link with the 





Tue Higuer INITIATIONS 209 


world from which He has come, in order that He may 
supply the reservoir from which spiritual power is 
poured down upon that world. The Nirmanakaya are 
spoken of in The Voice of the Silence as forming a 
Guardian Wall which preserves the world from fur- 
ther and far greater misery and sorrow. For those 
who do not understand the inner meaning that seems 
to imply that the misery and sorrow come to the 
world from outside, and that these Great Ones ward 
it off, but that is not so at all, for all the trouble in 
the world comes from those who suffer it. Each man 
is his own law-giver, each decrees his own doom or 
reward; but the duty of the Nirmanakaya is to sup- 
ply a great store of spiritual force for the helping of 
men. All the time They generate this force, taking 
no part for Themselves, but putting it all at the serv- 
ice of the Brotherhood for Their use in lifting the 
heavy burden of the world. 

It will thus be seen that of those who attain Adept- 
ship comparatively few remain on our earth as mem- 
bers of the Occult Hierarchy, but These and Their 
work are of vital importance, so we will devote to 
that subject the remaining chapters of this book. 


CHAPTER XI 
THE WORK OF THE MASTERS 


I have already explained that of the human beings 
who attain Adeptship, but a few remain on our earth 
as members of the Occult Hierarchy, to promote the 
evolution of life upon it in accordance with God’s 
plan. At present there are some fifty or sixty of 
these Supermen so engaged, and of Their general 
work our President has written as follows in her 
pamphlet on The Masters: 


They aid, in countless ways, the progress of humanity. 
From the highest sphere They shed down light and life on 
all the world, that may be taken up and assimilated, as 
freely as the sunshine, by all who are receptive enough to 
take it in. As the physical world lives by the life of God, 
focused by the sun, so does the spiritual world live by that 
same life, focused by the Occult Hierarchy. Next, the 
Masters specially connected with religions use these religions 
as reservoirs into which They pour spiritual energy, to be 
distributed to the faithful in each religion through the duly 
appointed “means of grace.” Next comes the great intellec- 
tual work, wherein the Masters send out thought-forms of 
high intellectual power to be caught up by men of genius, 
assimilated by them and given out to the world; on this 
level also They send out Their wishes to Their disciples, 
notifying them of the tasks to which they should set their 
hands. Then comes the work in the lower mental world, 
the generation of the thought-forms which influence the con- 
crete mind and guide it along useful lines of activity in this 
world, and the teaching of those who are living in the 
heavenly world. Then the large activities of the intermediate 


Tue Work oF THE MASTERS 211 


world, the helping of the so-called dead, the general direc- 
tion and supervision of the teaching of the younger pupils 
and the sending of aid in numberless cases of need. In the 
physical world the watching of the tendencies of events, the 
correction and neutralizing, as far as law permits, of evil 
currents, the constant balancing of the forces that work for 
and against evolution, the strengthening of the good, the 
weakening of the evil. In conjunction with the Angels of 
the Nations also They work, guiding the spiritual forces as 
the others guide the material. 


We may consider more fully some of the lines of 
work, here indicated in small compass with the sweep 
of vision for which our President is world-renowned. 
Though the number of Adepts is small, They have 
arranged that in all the world no life shall be dis- 
regarded or neglected, so They have divided the 
earth into special areas in somewhat the same way 
as in older countries the Church has divided the whole: 
land into parishes, so that wherever a man may live 
he is within one of these geographical divisions and 
has a definite Church organization to administer to 
his spiritual and sometimes to his bodily needs. 
The parishes of the Adepts, however, are not country 
districts or parts of towns, but huge countries and 
even continents. 

As the world is at present divided, one great Adept 
may be said to be in charge of Europe, and another 
looks after India; and thus the whole world is par- 
celed out. The parishes do not follow our political 
or geographical boundaries, but within His territory 
the Adept has all the different grades and forms of 
evolution to regard—not only our own, but also the: 


212 Tue MASTERS AND THE PaTH 


great kingdom of the Angels, of the various classes 
of Nature Spirits, the animals, vegetables and min- 
erals beneath us, the kingdoms of the elemental es- 
sence, and many others of which so far nothing has 
been heard by mankind; so there is a vast amount of 
work to be accomplished. In addition to the guard- 
ianship of the Adepts, each race or country has also 
the assistance of a Spirit of the Race, a deva or 
guardian Angel who watches over it and helps to 
guide its growth, and corresponds in many ways to 
the ancient conception of a tribal Deity, though he 
stands at a considerably higher level. Such an one, 
for example, was Pallas Athene. 

There are many different sets of influences at work 
in the service of the Logos for the evolution of man, 
and naturally they all operate in the same direction, 
and in cooperation with one another. We must never 
make the mistake of attributing to these great 
agencies the disasters which sometimes overtake 
countries, as in the case of the French Revolution and 
the recent upheavals in Russia. Those are due en- 
tirely to the savage passions of the people which have 
run riot and caused destruction instead of construc- 
tion, and they illustrate the danger to which the work 
of the Adepts and the Spirit of the Race is exposed 
when They make experiments along democratic lines. 
There is terrible evil involved in tyranny, and some- 
times great suffering also, but at least there is some 
sort of control; and the great problem in getting rid 
of the tyranny is how to do it without losing social 











Tue Work oF THE MASTERS 213 


stability and self-control. When that goes many 
persons fail to keep the human end uppermost in their 
own personalities, passion rises, crowds run riot, and 
the people become liable to obsession by great waves 
of undesirable influence. The national Angel tries to 
guide the feelings of the people; he is interested in 
them in great masses, and he would when necessary 
urge them to great patriotism and heroic deeds, just 
as a general might encourage his men to advance on 
the field of battle; but he is never reckless of their 
lives or careless of their suffering any more than a 
wise general would be. 

A large part of the Adepts’ work, as we have seen 
in an earlier chapter, lies at levels far. beyond the 
physical, as They are engaged in pouring out Their 
own power, and also the force from the great store 
filled by the Nirmanakaya. It is the karma of the 
world that it shall have a certain amount of this 
uplifting force at its service, and even ordinary men 
who turn their wills into line with the Divine Will, 
by directing their thought and feeling to the service 
of humanity, add to the reservoir a little, and are 
thus privileged to share in the great sacrifice. On 
account of this, humanity is evolving as a unit, and 
the miracle of brotherhood enables everyone to make: 
much more progress than would be even remotely 
possible were he standing entirely by himself. All 
this is part of the scheme of the Logos, Who appar- 
ently has calculated upon our taking part in His plan. 
When He devised it He thought: “When My peopie- 


214 Tue MASTERS AND THE PatH 


shall rise to a certain level, they will begin to cooper- 
ate intelligently with Me; therefore I will arrange. so 
that when they come to that point they will be able 
to draw upon My power.” Thus He is counting upon 
everyone. 

The Brotherhood is one with all humanity on higher 
leveis, and through its agency the distribution of the 
supply of force from the great reservoir takes place 
for men. They are raying upon all egos without ex- 
ception in the higher mental plane, and thus giving 
the greatest possible assistance to the unfoldment of 
the indwelling life. That life is like a seed which 
cannot die and must grow, because the principle of 
evolution, the Logos Himself, is at the heart of its 
very being; in man the plant has already risen through 
the soil and is seeking the upper air, and the rapidity — 
of its development is now very largely due to the sun- 
light of the spiritual force that comes through the 
channels of the Hierarchy. This is one of the many 
ways in which the more advanced help the less ad- 
vanced, as they share more and more the divine 
nature, in accordance with the divine plan. 

Each of the Adepts Who has undertaken this spe- 
cial work is raying out upon enormous numbers of 
people, running often into many millions simultane- 
ously, and yet such is the wonderful quality of this 
power that He pours forth that it adapts itself to 
each one of these millions as though he were the only 
. object of its influence, and it appears as though what 
for us would be full attention were being given to 





Tue Work OF THE MASTERS 215 


that one. It is difficult to explain on the physical 
plane how this may be—but it arises from the fact 
that the Master’s nirvanic consciousness‘is a kind of 
point which yet includes the entire plane. He can 
bring that point down through several planes and 
spread it out like a kind of vast bubble. On the out- 
side of that huge sphere are all the causal bodies 
which He is trying to affect, and He, filling the 
sphere, appears all in all to each individual. In this 
way He fills with His life the ideals of millions of 
people, and is for them respectively the ideal Christ, 
the ideal Rama, the ideal Krishna, an Angel or per- 
haps a spirit guide. This is quite a different kind 
of work from the superintendence of one of the great 
parishes, and in it the Master pays attention chiefly 
to pupils of one type, those who are developing along 
His own line of evolution, though naturally most of 
them are quite unconscious of His action. He has 
also many special cases to deal with, and for this 
purpose sometimes delegates part of this work to 
Devas, leaving them considerable liberty within cer- 
tain well-defined limits. The Devas in their turn 
employ nature-spirits and make a variety of thought- 
forms, and there is thus a large field of activity con- 
nected with their work. 

In The Science of the Sacraments I have explained 
how the Great Ones take advantage of the ceremonies 
of all religions to pour out Their power over the world 
on the lower planes, and thus to stimulate in as many 
men as possible the spiritual growth of which each 


216 Tue MASTERS AND THE PATH 


is capable. But it is not only in connection with 
religious ceremonial that this is done, for the Broth- 
erhood makes use of every opportunity that offers. 
If there be a gathering of people who are all under 
the influence of devotion, all bent for the time being 
upon nobler and higher thought, such a gathering 
offers to the Adepts an unusual opportunity, of which 
They will straightway make use, since it forms a 
focus which They can employ as a channel for 
spiritual influence. When people are scattered and 
living in their homes, they are like a number of sep- 
arated lines down each of which but a little force 
can flow, but when they come together at a meeting, 
it is as though these were combined to make a kind 
of pipe through which a much greater flood of bless- 
ing may be poured than the sum of what could de- 
scend through the separate lines. 

I have seen a million pilgrims together in the holy 
city of Benares, many of them no doubt ignorant and 
superstitious, but for the time full of devotion and 
utterly one-pointed. The mass of devotional feeling 
generated by such a crowd is almost incalculable, and 
the Adepts never miss the opportunity of utilizing it 
for good. It is, of course, unquestionable that a sim- 
ilar number of equally enthusiastic but intelligent 
people would supply vastly more force—and also 
force capable of playing upon a higher plane alto- 
gether; but we must not for a moment make the mis- 
take of ignoring the value of the vast amount of 
energy produced by ignorant and even fanatical peo- 








Tue Work OF THE MASTERS 217 


ple. The members of the Brotherhood have a won- 
derful faculty of separating the evil from the good, 
or rather of drawing out the last ounce of force which 
can be used for good, even from the midst of a great 
deal that is evil. 

It is common to find the most intense devotion 
allied with bitter sectarian feeling; in such a case the 
Adept will extract and make use of every particle 
of the devotional feeling, simply ignoring and leav- 
ing behind the savage hatred which to us seems to 
be a part of it. Therefore people with most undesir- 
able characteristics often produce a certain amount 
of good karma, though it is undeniable that it would 
be far greater if it were dissociated from the other 
unfortunate qualities. 

Such a city as Benares is always a tremendous 
center of force, even quite apart from the annual 
pilgrimages. It is a city of shrines and relics, and 
these also can be utilized as channels by the Adepts; 
and the same is true of such things the world over. In 
some place, for example, there may be a relic of a 
great saint belonging to any one of the religions of 
the world. If the relic is genuine, a certain amount 
of strong magnetism does radiate from it, on account 
of its connection with a worthy man, and it may 
therefore be used to bless those who reverence it by 
sending through it a stream of force. In many cases, 
however, the relic is not genuine; but that, which to 
us would seem a most important fact, in reality mat- 
ters less than one might suppose. | 


218 Tue Masters AND THE PaTH 


If for a long time people have made a great center 
of devotional feeling around it, on that account alone 
the Brotherhood can use it as effectively as a genuine 
relic, and the fact that the people are deluded in their 
belief does not affect its usefulness, since their devo- 
tion is genuine, and that is the important thing. If 
this were more fully understood, it would probably 
check many thoughtless people who are inclined to 
ridicule the superstitions of the Catholic peasants in 
Italy or Sicily or Spain, or to look down upon Indian 
coolies because they pay homage at some shrine which 
is obviously not what it is supposed to be. There is 
no doubt that truth is better than error, yet we must 
remember that it is not well to tear away from the 
ignorant the objects of their devotion until they are 
able to rise to higher things; by such iconoclasm the 
world is the poorer, for by it not only is devotion 
destroyed, but useful channels of the Masters’ force 
may be closed. 

Besides, it is obviously impossible for an ignorant 
peasant to judge as to the genuineness of a relic, and 
it would be grossly unfair that the effect of his de- 
votion, poured out with good intention and in all 
innocence of heart, should be made to depend upon 
a fact as to which he can have no knowledge. In the 
great world of realities things are never so badly 
managed as that; the true devotion will find full and 
hearty response whether the object round which it is 
focused is or is not all that he thinks it to be. The 
devotion is the real thing—the only thing that mat- 


Tue Work OF THE MASTERS 219 


ters, and it must and does receive the real return 
which it deserves. ‘The supposed relic is merely a 
point upon which it is focused, and an imaginary 
point will do for this as well as any other. 

I have already mentioned that the pupils of the 
Masters are also apprentices, but at their lower level 
they serve as transmitters of force, and also do a 
great variety of work in every branch of civilization 
and human culture, all of which is part of the Adepts’ 
work in the world. A vast amount of this is done 
by others who have received inspiration or sugges- 
tion from these pupils, or through the various socie- 
ties and agencies that they have set going or influ- 
enced. Without these influences humanity would be 
poor indeed, though for the most part it knows little 
of the source of its true wealth. The Adepts 
Themselves cannot turn aside from Their exalted 
work to do these lower and easier tasks, because 
if They did the whole machinery of evolution would 
suffer. 

Men sometimes ask why these Great Ones have not 
written books; for example. They forget that the 
Adepts are carrying on the evolution of the world; 
They can hardly drop that in order to give people 
information with regard to some part of it. It is true 
that if One of the Great Ones had the time to write 
a book, if His energy could not be better employed, 
that book would be far superior to any that we have. 
But if it were the plan of things that all work should 
be done by those who can already do it perfectly 


sp 


"4 They Save lf AC f Bee ait, 
ie TNty Nave. C£ MiGs Fe 


: ‘ 
vr" Ve f Ww h 0 S¢ maw é 7 1 are Lows 7 


220 Tue MAstTerRS AND THE PaTH 


there would be no field for the exercise of our facul- 
ties, and it would be difficult to see any utility in our 
existence in this world. 

A department of activity which has recently been 
organized on a large scale by pupils of the Masters 
is that of practical service on the astral plane, about 
which I have written in the book, Invisible Helpers. 
The greatest part of that work is among the newly 
dead, who often find themselves there confused, bewil- 
dered, and even suffering, especially. when they have 
been frightened during life by the hideous stories of 
dreadful torture after death which form part of the 
stock-in-trade of some perverted religious sects. 
Though it is many years ago, it is still within the 
life of the Theosophical Society, that the organized 
band of invisible helpers was founded and set to 
work. It was originally composed of people still liv- 
ing who had decided to use their time during the sleep 
of the body in this definite way; but they soon drew 
to themselves a great many already dead, who had 
not thought of this work before. 

Until that time, newcomers to the astral world were 
mostly left to themselves, unless it occurred to their 
relations to meet them and introduce them to the 
new life. For example, a mother who died would 
still watch over her children, and if any of the chil- 
dren died shortly after the mother she would give 
them what help and information she could; and gen- 
erally the good-natured people among the dead would 
pass on to others what knowledge they possessed 


THE WorkK oF THE MASTERS 221 


when they saw the need of help. In older civiliza- 
tions, when large families and joint families were the 
rule, perhaps comparatively few people found them- 
selves without a friend in need on the other side of 
death. Readers of Oriental literature will remember 
how much is said in Hindu religious books about the 
importance of family ties and duties as extending to 
the invisible regions beyond the veil of death. Still, 
the condition there was somewhat like that of a 
country without hospitals or schools or bureaus of 
public information, where many must suffer, and in 
times of special calamity and war that was often most 
serious. 

An excellent picture of the way in which the Adepts 
work for the betterment of civilization is given in our 
President’s London Lectures of 1907, in which she 
tells us something of the steps that were taken by the 
Brotherhood to lift Europe out of the terrible dark- 
ness of the Middle Ages. She explains that in the 
thirteenth century a mighty personage then living in 
‘Tibet promulgated His order to the Brotherhood that 
in the third quarter of every century an effort should 
be made to enlighten Europe. If one goes through 
history carefully, one can find that from that time 
onward, towards the end of each century a new ray 
of light was sent forth from the Lodge.* (See Dia- 
gram 1 on page 222.) 

The latest of these efforts was the founding of the 
Theosophical Society in 1875. After careful consid- 
eration the Masters Morya and Kuthumi undertook 


222 Tue MAaAsTEeRS AND THE PATH 


the responsibility of that step, and chose that noble 
worker, Madame Blavatsky, to help Them on the 
physical plane. Most students of Theosophical lit- 
erature know how she was prepared for what she 
had to do; how in due course the Brotherhood sent her 
to America to search for Colonel Olcott, the comrade 
who would supply what was lacking in herself—the 
power of organization and of speaking to men and 
gathering them round him and shaping them into a 


” 


* These have been worked out by Mr Fritz Kunz as follows: 


re ne rE eR SETS SR A RS A SE A SRR RE ER 


EFFORT 
1275 Roger Bacon and the restoration of mental 
culture 
1375 Christian Rosenkreuz and the spread of 
culture 
The printed book: fixation of knowledge 


1575 Francis Ba¢on and Science: English lan- 
guage the medium 

1675 Union of classes attempted: secret societies 

1775 Political freedom, unfortunately mainly by 
revolution 

1875 | Theosophical Society: Society for Psychical 
Research: Liberal Catholic Church: 
Co-Masonry: Evolution 


1975 Wide spread of what is now esotericism: 
_ Evolution (spiritual) - 


DIAGRAM 1 





= Se 





Tue Work oF THE MASTERS 223 


movement in the outer world—and how the Society 
was founded in New York, and later had: its Head- 
quarters removed to India. 

As I write, our Society is in its fiftieth year of 
service to humanity, and it is impossible to estimate 
the vast amount of good it has done in every depart- 
ment of human life. Its influence cannot in the 
least be measured by the number of its members or 
branches, although that is by no means insignificant, 
since it extends to every civilized part of the globe. 
But in each field of human endeavor it has sounded 
its characteristic note, the reverberations of which 
multiply around us in the words and work of states- 
men and scientists, literary men and artists, and 
many others of whom great numbers perhaps have 
never even heard the word Theosophy. It has drawn 
attention to the realities of the invisible world and 
the power of mind. It has voiced the claims in out- 
ward life of the fact of brotherhood, seeking no uni- 
formity in human life, but the organization for 
mutual support of widely different individuals, each 
of whom shall be strong in his special type, and all 
of whom shall be bound together by the indissoluble 
bond of respect for the man who is different from 
oneself. It has brought together East and West as 
never before, and has demanded fair play in the com- 
parison of religions, and revealed with unmistakable 
clearness their essential unity of teaching and their 
common source. And it has brought thousands to the 
feet of the Masters to serve Them with all their 


224 Tue MASTERS AND THE PatHu 


power and with all their hearts for the good of man-- 
kind for all time to come. 

In its work for the world the Brotherhood deals: 
not only with the present, but looks far into the 
future and prepares for the development of new races 
and nations in which the qualities of humanity shall 
be developed in harmonious sequence. As we shall 
see in the chapter on the Occult Hierarchy, the 
progress of mankind takes place in no haphazard 
manner, but the formation of the’ races with their 
special characteristics, physical, emotional and men- 
tal (serving as classes in the great world school for 
the development of special qualities) is as precise and 
definite as the curriculum and time-table of any 
modern college. 

The great Aryan race which, though not yet at its 
prime, dominates the world to-day with its supreme 
gift of intellect, has followed after the Atlantean race, 
the people of which still form the majority of man- 
kind and occupy a great portion of the land surface 
of our globe. 

In this connection three great pieces of work are 
in hand at the present time, the first of which is the 
preparation for the physical embodiment and ac- 
tivity among men of the Bodhisattva or World- 
Teacher, Who is the same great Personage, the 
Christ, Who occupied the body of Jesus two thousand 
years ago. His coming must not be confused with 
the centennial events already mentioned; those be- 
long to the First Ray and are in the department of 


Tue Work or THE MASTERS 225 


occult work that deals with the guidance of races 
and subdivisions of races; whereas this is an event 
which occurs only once in a long time, and is an ac- 
tivity of the Second Ray, the department of religion 
and education. The World-Teacher will come when 
He thinks well, but we are told that the Coming 
will be soon. The Order of the Star in the East was 
established thirteen years ago to prepare for that 
Coming by drawing together people of every sect and 
religion all over the world who for various reasons 
believe in the near approach of the World-Teacher, 
and are willing to combine in a grand effort to pro- 
claim it to the world, and prepare themselves as far 
as may be to be useful servants of the Lord when He 
comes. 

Since the Lord Maitreya has chosen to announce 
His coming to the world through our President, we 
are justified, I think, in assuming that His teaching 
will be somewhat along the line of the ideals that she 
has been promulgating with such wonderful eloquence 
during the last thirty-six years. Some sects claim 
that He will come to judge mankind and to destroy 
the earth, so that there is a great element of fear and 
uncertainty connected with their beliefs. But all fear 
of God comes from a misunderstanding. The Coming 
of Christ is indeed connected with an end—not the 
end of the world, but the end of an age or dispensa- 
tion. The Greek word is aion, which is the same as 
zon in English; and just as Christ said two thou- 
sand years ago that the dispensation of the Jewish 


226 Tue Masters AND THE PaTH 


law had come to an end, because He had come to 
found a new one, that of the gospel, so will the era 
of the gospel come to an end when He returns and 
founds yet another. He will give the same great 
teaching; the teaching must be the same, for there is 
only one Truth, though perhaps it may be put a little 
more clearly for us now, because we know a little 
more. It will be promulgated in some fresh dress, 
perhaps, with some beauty of expression which will 
be exactly suited to us in this present day, and there 
will be some statement of it which will appeal to a 
large number of people. 

It will certainly be the same, because it has ap- 
peared in all the existing faiths. They have differed 
much in their method of presenting it, but they all 
agree absolutely in the life which they ask their 
followers to live. We find considerable difference 
between the external teachings of Christianity, Bud- 
dhism, Hinduism, and Mohammedanism; but if we 
examine the good men of any one of those religions 
and inquire into their daily practice, we shall find 
that they all are leading precisely the same life— 
that they all agree as to the virtues a good man must 
possess, and as to the evils he must avoid. They all 
tell us that a man must be charitable, truthful, kindly, 
honorable, helpful to the poor; they all tell us that 
a man who is hard and grasping and cruel, who is 
untruthful and dishonorable, is making no progress, 
and has no chance of success until he changes his 
ways. As practical people we must recognize that 





| Tue Work OF THE MASTERS 227 


the things or real importance in any religion are not 
the vague metaphysical speculations on’ matters of 
which no one can really know anything for certain, 
for these can have no influence upon our conduct; the 
important things are the precepts which affect our 
daily lives, which make us this kind of man or that 
kind of man in our relations with our fellow-men. 
Those precepts are the same in all existing religions; 
they will be the same in the new teaching, whatever 
it may be. 

Perhaps we may go a little further than that in 
predicting what He will teach. Surely, the great 
central truth which He will emphasize is that the 
evils of the world come from lack of love and 
brotherliness—that if man will learn to love and to 
adopt the brotherly attitude, all evil will pass away 
and the golden age will dawn upon us. Not imme- 
diately—we cannot hope for that; but at least men 
will begin to see for themselves, and to understand 
how much more is to be gained along that line than 
the other. 

The second of these great events is the molding 
of the form of body, emotions and mind of the sixth 
subrace of our Aryan race, which has already begun 
to appear in America and Australia and perhaps 
other parts of the world. The great modeling power 
of the Manu’s mind and will is at work on the inner 
planes, modifying even the physical type of the chil- 
dren of the new age, wherever they may be suscep- 
tible to it, and some of the junior members of the 


228 Tue MASsTers AND THE PatTH 


Brotherhood, working in the outer world, have their 
instructions to provide for these, when possible, the 
education and training that befits the new race. This 
work is small as yet, but it is destined to swell into 
voluminous proportions, until within a few short 
centuries the sixth subrace will stand out distinct 
and admirable in its young manhood in the new 
world, while the old world continues to develop the 
fifth subrace to its maturity and perfection. And 
perchance later still the sixth subrace, radiant and 
glorious in its manhood, will shed its blessing upon the 
fifth, so that for the first time a race shall have a 
serene and dignified decline into fruitful and vener- 
able age. That may be the reward of its present and 
coming service to the infant race, and of its fight, 
full of sacrifice but triumphant, against the powers 
of darkness, opening up possibilities for man such 
as the race has never known before. 

We must try to understand what is meant by be- 
longing to the new sixth subrace. Our ideas are too 
inelastic. When the sixth subrace is fully established, 
it will show certain definite characteristics—physical, 
astral and mental—which are not to be seen in the 
average man of the fifth subrace. Remember, it has 
to be built gradually out of the fifth subrace, and 
these new characteristics must be developed one by 
one in each of the egos concerned. The process of 
preparation is a long one, and may well extend over 
several lives. So when you look round and examine 





Tue Work or THE MASTERS 229 


people (and especially young people) from this point 
of view, we must not expect to be able to say off- 
hand that one belongs to the new subrace, and an- 
other does not. 

A more accurate statement would be something like 
this: “A seems to possess about twenty-five per cent 
of the characteristics of the new subrace; B has per- 
haps as much as fifty per cent; C has a large pro- 
portion—perhaps seventy-five per cent; in D I cannot 
see anything lacking; as far as I can tell he is a 
fully developed example.” And you must understand 
that the average boy or girl whom you think hopeful 
is probably an A, for B’s are as yet very rare in the 
world, and C’s and D’s practically non-existent, ex- 
cept in our own tiny circle. Remember also that 
developments are very unequal; a boy may have 
made a considerable amount of astral or mental 
progress before it shows much in his physical body; 
and on the other hand, through good heredity, he may 
have a physical body capable of expressing greater 
advancement on higher planes than he has yet at- 
tained. Very few can expect to show all the signs 
yet; they may be well satisfied if they show one or 
two. 

Even at its culmination it will not be uniform; 
for example, it is in the main a dolichocephalous race, 
but it will always have brachycephalous subdivisions; 
it will contain fair-haired and dark-haired people, 
people with blue eyes and people with brown. Natu- 


230 Tuer MASTERS AND THE PaTH 

rally the astral and mental traits are the more impor- 
tant, but in most cases it is only by the physical ap- 
pearance that one can make an estimate. The keynote 
is unselfishness, and the dominant is eager enthus- 
iasm for service; and these must be accompanied 
by active kindliness and large-hearted tolerance. 
He who forgets his own pleasure, and thinks only 
how he can help others, has already gone far on the 
path. Discrimination and common sense are also 
marked characteristics. 

If we wish to know for what physical tokens we 
may look, perhaps the most marked of all are deli- 
cate, well-shaped hands and feet, thin fingers and 
oval nails, especially thinness in fingers and thumb 
when seen edgewise. The texture of the skin is also 
important. Of faces there are three types—the 
markedly oval with high forehead, the slightly less 
oval with broad forehead, and the practically brachy- 
cephalous (this last being rare; the definition of a 
brachycephalous skull is that its breadth is four- 
fifths of its length). There is a distinguishing ex- 
pression about the person who is approaching the 
sixth subrace which one who looks for it will soon 
begin to recognize. 

The third great event is the foundation of the sixth 
root-race, which is to take place physically in Cali- 
fornia about seven hundred years from now. A com- 
munity will be established there with the Manu of 
that race, He who is now our Master Morya, at the 


Se ee ee oF Se 


-TuHer Work oF THE MASTERS 231 


Head of it, and beside Him His co-worker through- 
out the ages, the Master Kuthumi, who is to be the 
Bodhisattva of the sixth root-race. We have written 
of that community in Man: Whence, How and 
Whither. Although it les some hundreds of years 
ahead, which after all is but a brief time in the life 
of a man, as all of us will realize when we look back 
upon it, preparations are swiftly afoot for that also, 
and the Theosophical Society is playing no incon- 
siderable part in those. Every branch of the Society 
is or ought to be encouraging each one of its mem- 
bers in his efforts to apply in the outer world the 
Theosophic knowledge that he has gained; he must, 
of course, do that according to his temperament and 
ability, and his opportunities as he mixes with men; 
but all that helps the present race. Within the The- 
osophical Lodge where so many different types of 
men foregather and must help one another if the 
Lodge be true to its ideals, a breadth of character 
should be developed in the members, for they receive 
in this respect an education in the spirit of broth- 
erhood which can scarcely be had elsewhere in the 
world. Most societies are organized for the attain- 
ment of one goal or one purpose, but in the Theosoph- 
ical Society we know that although one model of 
perfection appeals most strongly to one man and 
another to another, the brotherhood of man will not 
be achieved by the triumph of any one ideal, be it 
love, or truth, or beauty alone, but by the twisting 


232 Tue Masters AND THE PatTH 


of all these strands into one mighty rope which will 
bind man forever to the Divine. As was said in the 
Hitopadesha long ago: 
Small things wax exceeding mighty, 
Being cunningly combined; 
Furious elephants are fastened 
With a rope of grass-blades twined. 

Such is the spirit of brotherhood gradually ac- 
quired by the ‘true Theosophist, holding to his fellow 
by inner impulse, not by outward compulsion, and 
membership in the Society is verily a training by the 
Masters that, if successful, will fit the man to be 
reborn in the community of the sixth root-race when 
it is established on the physical plane. 


CuapTer XII 
THE CHOHANS AND THE RAYS 


In the last chapter I have tried to describe some 
of the many avenues of work of the great Masters, 
but there are, of course, many others, and some about 
which we know practically nothing; yet what we do 
know indicates that the work is vast and varied, and 
that the Adepts deal with it in different ways, ac- 
cording to Their own temperaments and preferences. 
There is a sevenfold division running through all 
things, as I must explain more fully presently, and 
this appears also in the Great White Brotherhood. 
In the Hierarchy the seven Rays are clearly distin- 
guished. The First or ruling Ray is governed by the 
Lord of the World; at the head of the Second Ray 
stands the Lord Buddha, and under These come re- 
spectively the Manu and the Bodhisattva of the root 
race which is predominant in the world at any given 
time. Parallel in rank with These is the Maha- 
Chohan, Who supervises all the other five Rays, each 
of which nevertheless has also its own Head. In my 
next chapter I will explain what I can about the 
loftier ranks of the Hierarchy, attempting in this to 


234 Tue MASTERS AND THE PaTH 


render some account of the work of the Heads of 
Rays Three to Seven, and of the Masters Morya and 
Kuthumi who stand at Their level on the First and 
Second Rays. 

The title Chohan is given to those Adepts Who 
have taken the Sixth Initiation, but the same word 
is employed also for the Head of Rays Three to 
Seven, which is a very definite and exalted office in 
the Hierarchy. We are given to understand that the 
meaning of the word Chohan is simply “Lord,” and 
that it is used both generally and specifically, in 
much the same way as the word Lord is employed in 
England. We speak of a man as a lord because he 
possesses that title, but that is quite different from 
what we mean when we speak, for example, of the 
Lord Chancellor or the Lord Lieutenant of the County. 
The term appears again in the name Dhyan Chohan, 
which occurs frequently in The Secret Doctrine and 
elsewhere, and then it refers to Beings of very high 
station, altogether outside the Occult Hierarchy of 
our planet. 

It is necessary at this point, if we are to under- 
stand at all this part of the work of the Masters, 
to digress a little and say something of what is 
meant by the seven Rays. This is a matter of con- 
siderable difficulty. Long ago we received some in- 
formation, very incomplete certainly, but still very 
valuable—about these Rays. I remember well the 
occasion on which it was given to us. Mr. Cooper- 





THE CHOHANS AND THE Rays 235 


Oakley and I and a Hindu brother were sitting talk- 
ing on the roof at Adyar in the very early days, when 
there was only the one headquarters house and 
twenty-nine acres of half-jungle behind it, and there 
came to us suddenly the Master Djwal Kul, who was 
at that time the chief pupil of the Master Kuthumi. 
He gave us a great deal of teaching in those days, 
and was always very kind and patient, and while 
He sat and talked to us that day this question of 
the Rays came up. Mr. Cooper-Oakley in his char- 
acteristic way said, “O, please, Master, will you tell 
us all about the Rays?” 

There was a twinkle in our Teacher’s eye as He 
said, ‘Well, I cannot tell you all about them until 
you have reached a very high Initiation. Will you 
have what I can tell you, which will be partial and 
inevitably misleading, or will you wait until you can 
be told the whole thing?” Not unnaturally we 
thought that half a loaf was better than no bread, 
so we said we would take what we could get. We 
noted down the very interesting information that He 
gave, but much of it was incomprehensible to us, as 
He had foretold. He said, “I cannot tell you any 
more than that, for I am bound by certain pledges; 
but if your intuition can make out more I will tell 
you whether you are right.”’ Even that little frag- 
mentary information was of very great value to us. 

The following is the table of Rays and their char- 
acteristics He then gave to us: 


236 Tue MASTERS AND THE PATH 


} Cuaracteristic Maaic Last RELIGION 









Ray CHARACTERISTIC OF Ray 











Wisdom Raja Yoga Buddhism 
(Human Mind) 
3 Astrology Chaldean 
ae Aisa (Natural Magnetie Forces) bearer 
Birth of Horus Hatha Yoga Egyptian 
(Physical Development) 








5 Fire Alchemy Z Zoroastrian 
(Material Substances) 
Incarnation of Deity Bhakti Christianity, ete 
(Devotion) (Kahala, etc.) 
inf io areal 


DIAGRAM 2 






Elemental! Worship 





It was explained that the religion written opposite 
each Ray is not to be taken as necessarily a perfect 
exposition of it, but is simply that which now remains 
on earth as a relic of the last occasion on which that 
Ray exercised dominant influence on the world. The 
Magic of the First Ray and the characteristics of 
the Seventh were not given. ‘The meaning of the 
Birth of Horus could not be explained, but one of 
the characteristics of the Fourth Ray was stated to 
be the use of the forces of action and interaction— 
the male and female forces of nature, as it were. 
Whenever phallicism occurs in the various religions 
it is always due to a materialization and misconcep- 





2 = = 


Tur CHOHANS AND THE Rays 237 


tion of some of the secrets connected with this Ray. 
The true development of the Seventh Ray would be 
communication with and instruction from the higher 
Devas. 

After what I have said above it should be clear 
that the information that has as yet reached us about 
the Rays is fragmentary. It is not only not a full 
account of the subject, but is not even a perfect out- 
line, for we were plainly told that there were huge 
gaps in the description given to us which could not 
possibly be filled up till much later. So far as we 
know very little has hitherto been written on this 
subject, and that little so guardedly expressed as not 
to be at all readily intelligible, and occult teachers 
are markedly reticent when questioned about it.* 

The essential thing to understand is that there is a 
certain sevenfold division of everything that exists in 
the manifested world, whether of life or matter. All 
life which exists in our chain of worlds passes through 
and belongs to one or other of seven Rays, each hav- 
ing seven subdivisions. In the universe there are 
forty-nine such Rays, making, in sets of seven, the 
seven great cosmic Rays, flowing from or through the 
seven Great Logoi. In our chain of worlds, however, 
and perhaps in our solar system, only one of these 


*While this book is in the press an important work on the 
subject appears, The Seven Rays, by Professor Ernest Wood. 
The material which it gives is illuminative, and is presented 
from quite a new angle. 


238 Tue MASTERS AND THE PaTH 


great cosmic Rays is operating, and its subdivisions 
are our seven Rays. It must not, of course, be sup- 
posed that our solar system is the only manifestation 
of that particular Logos, since each of the seven Great 
Logoi may have millions of systems dependent upon 
Him. As I have explained in The Inner Life: 


The whole of our solar system is a manifestation of its 
Logos, and every particle in it is definitely part of Huis 
vehicles. All the physical matter of the solar system taken 
as a totality constitutes His physical body; all the astral 
matter within it constitutes His astral body; all the mental 
matter, His mental body, and so on. Entirely above and 
beyond His system He has a far wider and greater existence 
of His own, but that does not in the least affect the truth of 
the statement which we have just made. 

This solar Logos contains within Himself seven planetary 
Logoi, Who are as it were centers of force within Him, chan- 
nels through which His force pours out. Yet at the same 
time there is a sense in which they may be said to constitute 
Him. The matter which we have just described as com- 
posing His vehicles also composes theirs, for there is no par- 
ticle of matter anywhere in the system which is not part of 
one or other of them. All this is true of every plane; but 
let us for a moment take the astral plane as an example, 
because its matter is fluid enough to answer the purposes 
of our inquiry, and at the same time it is near enough to the 
physical to be not entirely beyond the limits of our physical 
comprehension. 

Every particle of the astral matter of the system is part 
of the astral body of the solar Logos, but it is also part of 
the astral body of one or other of the seven Planetary Logoi. 
Remember that this includes the astral matter of which your 
astral body and mine are composed. We have no particle 
which is exclusively our own. In every astral body there are 
particles belonging to each one of the seven Planetary Logoi, 
but the proportions vary infinitely. The bodies of those 
Monads which originally came forth through a Planetary 
Logos will continue all through their evolution to have more 
of the particles of that Planetary Logos than of any other, 
and in this way people may be distinguished as primarily 
belonging to one or other of these seven great Powers. 


tig Sa ~~ Se 


THE CHOHANS AND THE Rays 239 


In Christian terms these seven great, Beings are 
found in the vision of St. John the Evangelist, who 
said: “And there are seven lamps of fire burning 
before the throne, which are the Seven Spirits of 
God.” Those are the Mystical Seven, the great 
Planetary Logoi, Who are life-centers in the very 
Logos Himself. Those are the true Heads of our 
Rays—the Heads for the whole solar system, not for 
our world only. Out through one or other of that 
mighty Seven every one of us must have come— 
some through one, some through another. 

They are the Seven Sublime Lords of The Secret 
Doctrine, the Primordial Seven, the Creative Powers, 
the Incorporeal Intelligences, the Dhyan Chohans, 
the Angels of the Presence. But remember that this 
last title is used in two quite different senses, which 
must not be confused. At every Celebration of the 
Holy Eucharist of our Christian brethren there ap- 
pears an “Angel of the Presence,’ who is in truth a 
thought-form of the Lord Christ, a vehicle of His 
consciousness, and so is rightly called a manifesta- 
tion of His Presence; but these Seven Great Ones 
receive the title for a very different reason—because 
They stand ever in the very presence of the Logos 
Himself, representing there the Rays of which They 
are the Heads—representing wus therefore, since in 
every one of us is part of the Divine Life of every 
one of Them. 

For though each of us belongs fundamentally to 
one Ray—the channel through which he, as a Monad, 


240 Tue MASsTers AND THE PATH 


flowed forth from the Eternal into Time—yet has he 
within himself something of all the Rays; there is 
in him no ounce of force, no grain of matter, which 
is not actually part of one or other of these wondrous 
Beings; he is literally compacted of Their very sub- 
stance—not of one, but of all, though always one 
predominates. Therefore, no slightest movement of 
any of these great Star Angels can occur without 
affecting to some extent every one of us, because 
we are bone of Their bone, flesh of Their flesh, spirit 
of Their Spirit; and this great fact is the real basis 
of the often misunderstood science of Astrology. 
We all stand always in the presence of the Solar 
Logos, for in His system there is no place where He 
is not, and all that is, is part of Him. But in a very 
special sense these Seven Spirits are part of Him, » 
manifestations of Him, almost qualities of His— 
centers in Him through which His power flows out. 
We may see a hint of this in the names assigned to 
them by the Jews. The first of them is always 
Michael, ‘‘your Prince,” as he is called; and this 
name means “The Strength of God,” or, as it is 
sometimes interpreted, “He who is like God in 
strength.” El, in Hebrew, means God; so we find it 
in Beth-El, which is “The House of God’; and 
Elohim is the word used for “God” in the very first 
verse of the Bible. This termination El occurs in 
the name of each of the Seven Spirits. Gabriel means 
“The Omniscience of God,’ and he is sometimes 


THE CHOHANS AND THE Rays 241 


called God’s Hero. He is connected with the planet 
Mercury, as Michael is with Mars. Raphael signi- 
fies “The Healing Power of God,” and he is associ- 
ated with the sun, which is the great health-giver 
for us on the physical plane. Uriel is “The Light 
or Fire of God”; Zadkiel is “The Benevolence of 
God,” and is connected with the planet Jupiter. The 
other Archangels are usually given as Chamuel and 
Jophiel, but I do not at present recollect their mean- 
ings or their planets. 

St. Denys speaks of these Seven Spirits as the 
Builders, and also calls them the Cooperators of God. 
St. Augustine says that they have possession of the 
Divine Thought, or the Prototype, and St. Thomas 
Aquinas wrote that God is the primary and these 
Angels are the secondary cause of all visible effects. 
Everything is done by the Logos, but through the 
mediation of these Planetary Spirits. Science will 
tell you that the planets are fortuitous aggregations 
of matter, condensations from the mass of the nebula, 
and so no doubt they are; but why at those partic- 
ular points? Because behind each there is a Living 
Intelligence to choose the points so that they will bal- 
ance one another. Truly whatsoever exists is the out- 
come of natural forces working under cosmic laws; 
but do not forget that behind every force is always 
its administrator, an Intelligence directing and man- 
aging. In thus describing Them I have used the 
Christian terminology, but the same Beings can be 


242 Tue Masters AND THE PATH 


found under different names in every great religion. 

When, then, that primordial matter or spirit which 
in the future was to become ourselves first emerged 
from undifferentiated infinity, it issued through seven 
channels, as water might flow from a cistern through 
seven pipes, each of which, containing its peculiar 
coloring matter would so tinge the water that passed 
through it that it would forever after be distinguish- 
able from the water of the other pipes. Through all 
the successive kingdoms, the elemental, the mineral, 
the vegetable, the animal, the Rays are always dis- 
tinct one from another, as they are also distinct in 
man, though in the lower kingdoms the influence of 
the Ray naturally acts in a somewhat different man- 
ner. Since in them there is no individualization, it 
is obvious that the whole of one species of animals, 
for example, must be on the same Ray; so that the 
different kinds of animals in the world might be ar- 
ranged in seven parallel columns according to the 
Rays to which they belong, and since an animal can 
individualize only through association with man, at 
the head of each of these Rays stands some class of 
domestic animal through which alone individualiza- 
tion on that particular Ray takes place. The ele- 
phant, dog, cat and horse are examples of such 
classes, so it is clear that the impulse of the universal 
life which is now animating, let us say, a dog, can 
never animate a horse or a cat, but will continue to 
manifest through the same species until individual- 
ization takes place. 





eee ead 


THE CHOHANS AND THE Rays 243 


Researches have not yet been made as to the par- 
ticular animals and vegetables which stand on each 
Ray, but I had reason a few years ago to investigate 
the precious stones, and found that each Ray had 
its own representatives, through which the force of 
the Ray works more readily than through any other. 
I print here the table that appears in The Science 
of the Sacraments, in which is shown the jewel at the 
head of each Ray, and others which stand on the 
same Ray and therefore hold the same kind of force, 
though less strongly. 


Ray RRL AT TER SUBSTITUTES 
Heap or Ray 


1 Diamond Rock crystal 








Lapis Lazuli, Turquoise, Sodalite 





Sapphire 








Emerald Aquamarine, Jade, Malachite 







Jasper Chalcedony, Agate, Serpentine 








Citrine, Steatite 





Topaz 





Ruby Tourmaline, Garnet, Cornelian, Carbuncle 








Amethyst Porphyry, Violane 





DIAGRAM 3 


From all that I have said above it follows that 
these seven types are visible among men, and that 
every one of us must belong to one or other of the 
Rays. Fundamental differences of this sort in the: 
human race have always been recognized; a century 


244 Tue MASTERS AND THE PATH 


ago men were described as of the lymphatic or the 
sanguine temperament, the vital or the phlegmatic, 
and astrologers classify us under the names of the 
planets, as Jupiter men, Mars men, Venus or Saturn 
men, and so on. I take it that these are only differ- 
ent methods of stating the basic differences of dispo- 
sition due to the channel through which we happen 
to have come forth, or rather, through which it was 
ordained that we should come forth. 

It is, however, by no means an easy matter to 
discover to what Ray an ordinary man belongs, for 
he has become very much involved in matter and has 
generated a great variety of karma, some portion of 
which might be of a kind that would dominate and 
obscure his essential type even perhaps through the 
whole of an incarnation; but the man who is ap- 
proaching the Path ought to be showing in himself 
a definite driving impulse or leading power which will 
_ have the character of the Ray to which he belongs, 
and will tend to lead him into the kind of work or 
service which distinguishes that Ray, and it will also 
bring him to the feet of one of the Masters upon it, 
so that he becomes enrolled as it were in the college 
of which the Chohan of the Ray may be regarded as 
the Principal. 

It may help a little towards the comprehension of 
these differences of type if I give one or two examples 
of the methods likely to be used, judging from the 
table that I have printed above, by persons on the 
different Rays when they want to use magic to pro- 





Tur CHOHANS AND THE Rays 245 


duce a given result. The First Ray man would attain 
his object by sheer force of resistless will, without 
condescending to employ anything in the nature of 
means at all; he of the Second Ray would also work 
by force of will, but with the full comprehension of 
the various possible methods, and the conscious di- 
rection of his will into the channel of the most suit- 
able one; to the Third Ray man it would come most 
naturally to use the forces of the mental plane, no- 
ticing very carefully the exact time when the influ- 
ences were most favorable to his success; the Fourth 
Ray man would employ for the same purpose the 
finer physical forces of the ether, while his Fifth Ray 
brother would be more likely to set in motion the cur- 
rents of what used to be called the astral light; the 
devotee of the Sixth Ray would achieve his result 
by the strength of his earnest faith in his particular 
Deity and in the efficacy of prayer to Him, while the 
Seventh Ray man would use elaborate ceremonial 
magic and probably invoke the assistance of non- 
human spirits if possible. 

Again, in attempting the cure of disease, the First. 
Ray would simply draw health and strength from the 
great fountain of Universal Life; the Second would 
thoroughly comprehend the nature of the malady and 
know precisely how to exercise his will-power upon 
it to the best advantage; the Third would invoke the 
great planetary spirits, and choose a moment when. 
astrological influences were beneficent for the appli- 
cation of his remedies; the Fourth would trust chiefly’ 


246 Tue MASTERS AND THE Patu 


to physical means such as massage, the Fifth would 
employ drugs, the Sixth faith-healing and the Seventh 
mantras or magical invocations. In all the above 
cases the operator might possibly use many of the 
powers mentioned, but would probably find the most 
effective instrument in his hands the one that is 
typical of his own Ray. 

In the members of the Adept Brotherhood the dis- 
tinctions of Rays are much moré clearly marked 
than in others and are visible in the aura; the Ray 
to which an Adept belongs decidedly affects not only 
His appearance, but also the work that He has to do. 
We may perhaps best see what are the distinctive 
characters of the Rays by observing the work of the 
five Chohans of Rays Three to Seven, and of the two 
Chohans Who stand at Their level on the First and 
Second Rays and carry on work of the same grade in 
service of the Greater Ones Who are Their directing 
Heads. In the Seven Heads of the Rays in the 
Hierarchy we have a reflection of the Seven Spirits 
before the Throne. It must be understood that we 
can here mention but the merest outline of the qual- 
ities that are grouped under each of the Rays, and 
but a fragment of the work that the Adepts on those 
Rays are doing, and care must be taken also to 
realize that full possession of the qualities of one Ray 
in no case implies a lack of those of the other Rays. 
If we speak of one of the Adepts as preeminent in 
strength, for example, it is also true that He has 
achieved nothing less than human perfection in de- 


THE CHOHANS AND THE Rays 247 


votion and love and every other quality as well. 

Of the Master Morya, who is the representative 
of the First Ray at the level of the Chohan Initiation, 
I have already written to some extent. He stands 
with all the unshakable and serene strength of His 
Ray, playing a great part in that work of guiding 
men and forming nations, of which I must speak more 
fully in the next chapter. ‘On that Ray, too, there is 
the Master whom we have called Jupiter, acting as 
Guardian of India for the Hierarchy, guardian of 
that nation which throughout the long lifetime of the 
fifth race cherishes the seeds of all its possibilities 
and sends them out in due course to each subrace, 
that there they may grow and ripen and fructify. He 
also penetrates deeply into the abstruser sciences of 
which chemistry and astronomy are the outer shells, 
and His work in this respect is an example of the 
variety of activity that may exist within the limits 
of one Ray. 

The Master Kuthumi, who was formerly the great 
teacher, Pythagoras, is also a Chohan, and He rep- 
resents the Second Ray at the same level. This is the 
Ray of Wisdom, which gives great Teachers to the 
world, and the work that lies upon it can best be 
described in connection with that of the Bodhisattva 
and the Buddha in my next chapter. I have already 
spoken of the marvelous love and wisdom that radi- 
ate from the Master whom I have the inexpressible 
delight and honor to serve and follow, and all that I 
have said about the teaching and training of pupils 


248 Tue MASTERS AND THE PatTH 


expresses especially His method. Other teachers on 
other Rays bring Their pupils to the same point and 
develop in them exactly the same noble qualities, and 
always by the most irreproachable means, yet there 
are distinct differences in Their methods; indeed there 
are differences in the way in which the same Master 
deals with different pupils. 

At the Head of the Third Ray stands the great 
Master called the Venetian Chohan. In the people 
of that Ray engaged in the service of man there ap- 
pears very strongly the characteristic of adaptability 
that belongs to the Ray, and its influence tends to 
make one fit oneself to people, so as to help them 
the better, and thus become, as St. Paul said, “all 
things to all men.” Those who are advanced on this 
Ray have a great deal of tact, and a rare faculty for 
doing the right thing at the right moment. Astrology 
is connected with this Ray, because, so far as an out- 
sider may understand, the science of it is to know 
exactly when is the best time to do anything, to set 
any given forces in motion, and to know also when 
the present time is not a fitting one to do a certain 
thing and in that way save oneself a great deal of 
trouble and make oneself more useful. 

The Fourth Ray is under the care of the Master 
Serapis. In the earlier days of the Theosophical 
Society we used to hear a good deal about Him, be- 
cause of the fact that He at one time took charge 
of the training of Colonel Olcott, when his own Mas- 
ter, the Master Morya, was otherwise engaged for a 








eee 


Ture CHOHANS AND THE Rays 249 


time. Such interchange of pupils among the Masters, 
for special and temporary purposes, is not infrequent. 
The special line of this Chohan is harmony and 
beauty, and people who belong to His type are 
always unhappy until they can introduce harmony 
into their environment, for it is along that line that 
they do most of their work. Art counts for much 
on this Ray, and many artists belong to it. 

At the Head of the Fifth Ray stands the Master 
Hilarion—with His splendid quality of scientific ac- 
curacy. He was once Iamblichus, of the Neo-Platonic 
school, and He gave to us, through M. C., Light on 
the Path and The Idyll of the White Lotus, He being, 
as our President puts it, a “skilled craftsman in 
poetic English prose and in melodious utterance.” 
His influence is upon most of the great scientists of 
the world, and people well advanced along His Ray 
are notable for their ability to make accurate ob- 
servations, and be absolutely dependable where 
scientific investigation is concerned. The Master’s 
science extends, of course, far beyond what is com- 
monly called by that name, and He knows and works 
with many of the forces which nature introduces into 
the life of man. 

Nature is responsive to the moods of mankind and 
intensifies them in various ways. If a man is happy 
and joyous, other creatures enjoy his presence; the 
nature-spirits go forth to meet him, and his own hap- 
piness is thus increased. This sort of reaction takes 
place everywhere. In the north of Europe, for ex- 


250 Tue Masters AND THE PaTH 


ample, the nature-spirits are somewhat wistful, and 
have moods of mournful introspection, and such as 
these find a ready home in Scotland, Ireland, Wales, 
Brittany and similar places; they respond less readily 
to joy, and the people there are also colder and more 
dificult to rouse. In those countries nature is less 
joyous; they are all lands of much rain and dull skies, 
gray and green, where life and poetry take a wistful 
turn. The contrast is tremendous between those and 
Greece or Sicily, where everything is radiant, golden 
and blue and red and all the people are joyous and 
happy on the surface. The creatures of nature actu- 
ally bathe in a person’s happiness, and most of all 
they are drawn to anyone who is full of joyous love, 
and they are happy in his aura and wait upon him 
most favorably. To-day much of this side of life 
is ignored. Now we know that H,O = water, but 
the ancient Greeks and ancient Hindus recognized 
the spirits of the water, and studied how they might 
work with them, and they did it as definitely as we 
to-day work with electricity and machinery. 

The Master Jesus, who became an Adept in His 
incarnation as Apollonius of Tyana, and was after- 
wards the great South Indian religious reformer, Shri 
Ramanajucharya, rules the Sixth Ray, that of Bhakti 
or devotion. This is the Ray of the devotional saints 
and mystics of every religion, and the Chohan Jesus 
has charge of such people under whatever form they 
may worship the Divine Being. Nineteen hundred 


TuE CHOHANS AND THE Rays 251 


years ago Apollonius of Tyana was sent out by the 
Brotherhood upon a mission, one feature of which 
was that he was to found, in various countries, certain 
magnetic centers. Objects of the nature of talismans 
were given to him, which he was to bury at these 
chosen spots, in order that the forces which they 
radiated might prepare these places to be the centers 
of great events in the future. Some of these centers 
have already been utilized, but some have not, and 
all these latter are to be employed in the immediate 
future in connection with the work of the coming 
Christ; so that much of the detail of His work was 
already definitely planned nearly two thousand years 
ago, and arrangements even on the physical plane 
were being made to prepare for it. 

The Head of the Seventh Ray is the Master the 
Comte de St. Germain, known to history in the 
eighteenth century, whom we sometimes call the 
Master Rakoczy, as He is the last survivor of that 
royal house. He was Francis Bacon, Lord Verulam, 
in the seventeenth century, Robertus the monk in the 
sixteenth, Hunyadi Janos in the fifteenth, Christian 
Rosencreuz in the fourteenth, and Roger Bacon in 
the thirteenth, and is the Hungarian Adept of The 
Occult World. Further back in time He was the 
great Neo-Platonic Proclus, and before that St. 
Alban. He works to a large extent through cere- 
monial magic, and employs the services of great 
Angels, who obey Him implicitly and love to do His 


252 Tue MASTERS AND THE PATH 


will. Though He speaks all European and many 
Oriental languages, much of His working is in Latin, 
the language which is the especial vehicle of His 
thought, and the splendor and rhythm of it is unsur- 
passed by anything that we know down here. In His 
various rituals He wears wonderful and many-col- 
ored robes and jewels. He has a suit of golden chain- 
mail, which once belonged to a Roman Emperor; over 
it is thrown a magnificent cloak of crimson, with, on 
its clasp, a seven-pointed star in diamond and ame- 
thyst, and sometimes He wears a glorious robe of 
violet. Though He is thus engaged with ceremonial, 
and still works some of the rituals of the Ancient 
Mysteries, even the names of which have long been 
forgotten in the outer world, He is also much con- 
cerned with the political situation in Europe and the 
growth of modern physical science. 

The following is a summary of the work of these 
Chohans and Their Rays as I have given them in 
The Science of the Sacraments, with the thought to 
be held in mind by those who wish to serve along 
these lines: 

1. SrreNGcTH. 

“T will be strong, brave, persevering in His service.” 

2. Wuspom. 

“T will attain that intuitional wisdom which can be 
developed only through perfect love.” 

3. ADAPTABILITY oR Tact. 

“T will try to gain the power of saying and doing just 
the right thing at the right moment—of meeting 


each man on his own ground, in order to help him 
more efficiently.” 


THE CHOHANS AND THE Rays 253 


4, Beauty anp Harmony. 
“So far as I can I will bring beauty aud harmony 
into my life and surroundings that they may be 
more worthy of Him; I will learn to. see beauty 
in all Nature, that so I may serve Him better.” 

5. Scrence (detailed knowledge). 
“T will gain knowledge and accuracy, that I may 
devote them to His work.” 

6. DeEvorTIon. 
“T will unfold within myself the mighty power of 
devotion, that through it I may bring others to 
Him.” 

7. ORDERED SERVICE. 
“T will so order and arrange my service of God along 
the lines which He has prescribed, that I may be 
able fully to take advantage of the loving help 
which His holy Angels are always waiting to 
render.” 


All these different qualities will have to be devel- 
oped in each one of us in due time, but we shall 
possess them all perfectly only when we ourselves 
have reached perfection and become Supermen. At 
the present time one of the ways in which our imper- 
fection shows itself in our lives is in the fact that we 
have some one characteristic developed in excess of 
the others. There are some, for example, who have 
scientific accuracy and discrimination well unfolded 
within them, but because as yet they have not cul- 
tivated affection and devotion, their nature is cold 
and hard; they often appear unsympathetic and are 
liable to misjudge their fellow-men, and in matters 
of judgment or in the consideration of an intellectual 
problem their attitude is often intensely critical. 
Their decision would always tend to be against rather 


254 Tue MASTERS AND THE PaTH 


than in favor of any person who happened to cross 
their path, whereas the devotional or affectionate 
type of people would make far more allowance for 
the other man’s point of view, and would on the whole 
be more likely to judge favorably, and even if their 
judgment were wrong, as they might easily be swayed 
by their feelings, it would err on the side of mercy. 
Both these are deflections from strictly accurate judg- 
ment, and in ourselves it will be’ necessary in the 
course of time to balance these qualities perfectly, 
for the Superman is the perfectly balanced man. As 
it says in The Bhagavad Gita, “Equilibrium is called 
Yoga.” 

In the seven Planetary Logoi certain cyclic changes 
periodically occur, which correspond perhaps to in- 
breathing and out-breathing or to the beating of the 
heart down here on the physical plane. However 
that may be there seems to be an infinite number of 
possible permutations and combinations of them; and 
since our astral bodies are built of the very matter of 
their astral bodies it is obvious that no one of these 
Planetary Logoi can change astrally in any way 
without thereby affecting the astral body of every 
man in the world, though, of course, more especially 
those in whom there is a preponderance of matter 
expressing Him. If it be remembered that we take 
the astral plane merely as an example, and that ex- 
actly the same thing is true on all the other planes, 
we shall then begin to have an idea how important 
to us are the emotions of these Planetary Spirits. 


Tur CHOHANS AND THE Rays 255 


Whatever these may be, they are visible in the long 
history of human races as regular cyclic changes in 
the temperament of the people and the consequent 
character of their civilization. Putting aside the 
thought of world-periods and considering only the 
period of a single root-race, we find that in it the 
seven Rays are preponderant in turn (perhaps more 
than once) but in the period of that dominance of 
each Ray there will be seven subcycles of influence, 
according to a rather curious rule which requires 
some explanation. Let us take, for example, that 
period in the history of a race when the Fifth Ray is 
dominant. During the whole of that epoch the cen- 
tral idea of that Ray (and probably a religion 
founded upon it) will be prominent in the minds of 
men; but that time of predominance will be subdi- 
vided into seven periods in the first of which this 
idea, though still the principal one, will be colored by 
the idea of the First Ray, and the methods of the 
First Ray will be to some extent combined with its 
own. In the second of its subdivisions its ideas and 
methods will be similarly colored by those of the 
Second Ray, and so on, so that in its fifth subdivision 
it will naturally be at its purest and strongest. It 
would seem as if these divisions and subdivisions 
ought to correspond with the subraces and branch 
races respectively, but it has not so far been possible 
for us to see that they do so. 

In discussing a subject so complex and so obscure 
as this with a knowledge of it so slight as is ours at 


256 Tue MASTERS AND THE PatTH 


present, it is perhaps hardly safe to adduce instances; 
yet since we are told that the Sixth or devotional Ray 
is at present dominant, we may fancy that we can: 
trace the influence of its first subcycle in the stories 


of the wonderful powers exhibited by the earlier 


saints; of its second in the Gnostic sects whose central 
idea was the necessity of the true wisdom, the 
Gnosis; of the third in the astrologers; of the fourth 


in the strangely distorted efforts to develop will-power 


by the endurance of painful or loathsome conditions, 
as did St. Simeon Stylites or the Flagellants; of the 
fifth in the alchemists and Rosicrucians of the Middle 
Ages; while its sixth division of the purest devotion 
might be imaged in the ecstasies of the contemplative 
monastic orders, and the seventh cycle would produce 
the invocations and exact adherence to external forms 
of the Roman Church. 

The advent of modern spiritualism and the devo- 
tion to elemental worship which is so often a char- 
acteristic of its degraded forms, may be regarded as 
a premonition of the influence of the coming Seventh 
Ray, the more so as this movement was originated 
by a secret society which has existed in the world 
since the last period of the Seventh Ray predomi- 
nance in Atlantis. 

How real and decided a dominance is exerted by 
a Ray in the course of its cycle of influence is very 
evident to those who have read anything of Church 
history. They realize how much of utterly blind de- 
votion there was all through the Middle Ages, how 


THE CHOHANS AND THE Rays 257 


people who were very ignorant about religion never- 
theless spoke in its name, and tried to force the ideas 
bred of their ignorance on other people who in many 
eases knew much more. ‘Those who wielded the 
power—the dogmatic Christians—were precisely the 
people who knew least about the real meaning of the 
dogmas they taught. There were those who could 
have told them a great deal more, and could have 
explained the meaning of many points in Christian 
doctrine; but the majority would not hear, and they 
cast out these more learned ones as heretics. 
Throughout this dark period the people who really 
knew something, such as the alchemists (not that all 
alchemists knew very much, but certainly some of 
them knew more than the Christians) were to be 
found among such secret orders as the Templars and 
the Rosicrucians, and some of the truth was hidden 
in Freemasonry. All these people were persecuted 
by the ignorant Christians in those days, in the name 
of devotion to God. A great many of the medieval 
saints were very full of a devotion that was often 
beautiful, and even spiritual; but it was generally so 
narrow in form that it usually allowed them, in spite 
of their spirituality, to hold uncharitable views about 
others who differed from them, and even to persecute 
them openly. There were a few who held really spir- 
itual ideals, but they were regarded with suspicion. 
Such were the Quietists: Ruysbroeck, Margaret and 
Christina Ebner, Molinos and Jacob Boehme. In 
almost all cases the more ignorant people rode down 


258 Tuer MASTERS AND THE PatTH 


those who knew; they always did it in the name of 


devotion, and we must not forget that their devotion 
was very real and very intense. 


It was not only in Christianity that the reign of 
devotion showed itself. It reflected itself powerfully 


into the religions left behind by the earlier Rays. 
Hinduism might be thought distinctly cold by devo- 
tional people. The religion of Shiva, God the Father, 
the First Person of the Blessed Trinity, spread almost 
entirely over India; and even to this day three- 


fourths of the Hindus are worshipers of that aspect. 


of the Divine. Before these people is set up the ideal 
of duty—dharma, which is unquestionably the strong 
point of that religion. They held that men were born 
in the different castes according to their deserts; that 
wheresoever a man was born, it was his duty to carry 
on the dharma of his caste, and he must be so ex- 
ceptional to rise out of it that for a long time such 
a thing was almost unknown. They worshiped law 
and order and did not approve of discontent as ap- 
plied to environment, but taught that the way to God 
was to use to the utmost the conditions in which a 
man found himself. If he did that those conditions 
would improve from birth to birth, but they taught 
that the door to God was open to a man from any 
caste if he lived rightly, not seeking to better his 
opportunities by strife, but by doing his dharma to 
the uttermost in the state of life to which God had 
called him. 

To the very devotional mind that would seem cold 


Al 
i 





THE CHOHANS AND THE Rays 259 


and scientific, and perhaps it was; but when the de- 
votional Ray began to influence the world there came 
a great change, and the worship of the Second Person 
of the Trinity, Vishnu, incarnating as Shri Krishna, 
came prominently forward. Then devotion surged 
forth without restraint; so extreme it was that. it 
became in many ways a mere orgy of emotion; and 
it is probable that there is greater devotion at this 
moment among the followers of Vishnu in India than 
can be found even among Christians whose religion is 
confessedly devotional. The emotion is so great that 
its demonstration is often uncomfortable for us of 
the colder races to watch. I have seen hard men of 
business throw themselves into an ecstasy of devo- 
tion, which led them to burst into tears and appar- 
ently to break up and change entirely, merely at the 
mention of the Child Shri Krishna. All that has ever 
been felt for the Child Jesus among Western nations, 
is felt for the Child Krishna amongst the Hindus. 
This was the effect of devotion on a religion which 
in itself was not devotional in character. Buddhism 
also can hardly be called a devotional faith. The 
Buddhist religion was a gift of Hinduism to the great 
Fourth Race, and the devotional cycle for that race 
does not necessarily coincide with ours. That religion 
does not hold the necessity for prayers; it tells its 
people, in so far as it recognizes the existence of God, 
that He knows His own business very much better 
than they can hope to do; that it is quite useless for 
them to pray to Him, or to try to influence Him, for 


260 Tue MASTERS AND THE PaTH 


He is already doing better than any man can think. 
The Buddhists in Burma would say, “The boundless 
Light exists, but that is not for us. We shall reach 
that one day; meantime our business is to follow the 
teaching of our Lord, and see to it that we do those 
things which He would have us do.” 

It is not that they disbelieve in a God, but that 
they set God so far—so infinitely far—above us all; 
they are so sure about Him, that they take it all for 
granted. The missionaries say that they are athe- 
istical. I have lived among them and know them 
more intimately than the average missionary does, 
and my impression is that they are not in the least 
atheistical in spirit; but that their reverence would 
be too great for them to put themselves on such 
familiar terms with God, or, like many in the West, 
to talk with intimacy of Him, as if they knew pre- 
cisely what He is going to do and all about His work. 
That would strike the Oriental as a very irreverent 
attitude. Buddhism itself has been touched by this 
fire of devotion, and in Burma they worship the Lord 
Buddha almost as a God. I noticed this when I had 
to write a catechism for Buddhist children. Colonel 
Olcott wrote the first catechism of Buddhism, intend- 
ing it for the use of children, but he made his answers 
difficult even for grown-up people to understand. We 
found it necessary to write an introduction to it for 
children, and to reserve his catechism, which was a 
splendid work, for older students. He asked in that 
catechism: “Was Buddha a God?” and the answer 





| 


THE CHOHANS AND THE Rays 261 


was “No, not a God, but a man like ourselves, only 
far more advanced than we.” ‘That was accepted 
fully in Ceylon and Siam, but when we came to 
Burma they objected to the negative answer, saying: 
“He is greater than any God of Whom we know 
anything.” The Sanskrit word for God is “deva” 
and the Hindus never use God in our sense of the 
word unless they are speaking of Ishvara, or else of 
the Trinity, Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma. 

When the missionaries talk about the Hindus as 
having thirty-three million (or three hundred and 
thirty million) gods, the word used is “deva,”’ and 
that includes a great many beings—angels, nature- 
spirits and so on, but they no more worship them 
than we would. They know that they exist and they 
catalog them, that is all. In Burma we found that 
devotion had thus appeared in Buddhism, but in 
Ceylon where the people are mostly descendants of 
Hindu immigrants they will tell you, if you ask them 
why they make offerings to the Lord Buddha, that 
it is out of gratitude for what He has done for them. 
When we asked if they thought that He knew of it 
and was pleased, they said: “O no, He has passed 
far away into Paranirvana; we do not expect Him 
to know anything about it, but to Him we owe this 
knowledge of the Law which He has taught us, and 
for that we perpetuate His name, and make our offer- 
ings out of gratitude.” 

So this wave of devotion has influenced the world 
powerfully since the coming of the Child Krishna two 


262 Tue MASTERS AND THE PaTH 


thousand four hundred years ago, but now the special 
intensity of its sixth phase has gone, and its seventh 
substage is rapidly giving place to the influence of 
the incoming Ray, the Seventh. There is still igno- 
rant devotion among the peasantry in many Aryan 
countries, but the more educated people are not now 
readily moved to devotion unless they have at the 
same time some understanding of its object. There 
was a phase which had its own value, in the fourth 
subrace particularly when the people were prepared 
to be devoted to almost anything that would draw 
out their emotion, and from that, with the stronger 
development of the lower mind in the fifth subrace, 
there was a reaction into agnosticism. That now in 
its turn has proved unsatisfactory, so that that wave 
has practically passed over, and men are now ready 
at least to inquire and examine instead of frantically 
denying everything. 

There is a double change now taking place, for in 
addition to the modification of Ray influence there is 
also the beginning of the sixth subrace, which brings 
in intuition and wisdom, blending all that is best in 
the intelligence of the fifth subrace and the emotion 
of the fourth. 

The Ray that is now coming into force is very 
largely one of ceremonial, and, this being no longer 
but the seventh sub-activity of the Sixth Ray, but the 
first subdivision of the Seventh Ray, it will not be 
regarded principally from the point of view of dis- 
play but rather from that of its usefulness in connec- 





y 
: 
H 
| 
; 
i 





Tur CHOHANS AND THE Rays 263 


tion with the great Deva evolution. It will be most 
beneficial when the people make it their business to 
understand as much as may be of what is going on. 

In modern religion, ceremonial is year by year 
playing a more prominent part. In the middle of the 
last century in England the churches and cathedrals 
had but little life in them. ‘The average country 
church was then scarcely different from a dissenting 
chapel; there were no vestments, no painted windows 
nor decorations of any kind, and everything was as 
dull and unornamental as could be. No attention 
was paid to making things beautiful and reverent and 
worthy of God and His service; thought was given to 
preaching more than to anything else, and even that 
was done mainly from a practical point of view. If 
we were to go into the same churches in England 
to-day, we should find hardly a parish in that condi- 
tion. The old carelessness has been replaced by rev- 
erence; the churches have in many cases been beau- 
tifully decorated, and in many of them and of the 
cathedrals the ceremonies are performed with accu- 
racy and reverence. The whole conception of church 
work has changed. 

The influence of the change of Ray is beginning to 
manifest in other ways as well. There is now rising 
a special form of Freemasonry, called Co-Masonry, 
which differs from other forms of the same Craft in 
that the necessity of our time is met by accepting 
women as equal to men, for it is the tendency of our 
present age that women shall take their place beside 


264 Tue MASTERS AND THE PatH 


men and be equal to them in every respect. Those 
who initiated the movement were not thinking about 
the influence of the Ray; nevertheless, it has been 
formed and directed by the ceremonial tendency of 
the age. I remember that for a long time in the reign 
of Queen Victoria there was but little ceremonial to 
be seen in the streets of London, but it was revived 
towards the end of her rule, and Edward VII restored 
it to its original splendor. Many people will now 
begin to feel the influence of the new Ray, and will 
desire to see and perhaps take part in ceremonial as 
they have not done before. 


Ss 


‘ 
y 
if 





THER EOGiO's 
First Aspect Second Aspect 









Lord of the Wort 


oes 
Initiation . 











The Buddha. 


\ 
va es , Bodhisatiha P - 









Buddha 
osur 
lnitiation. 











Mahachohan 


Initiation 





Chohan 


6th Master | The Master Master Master Master 
Initiattow Morya + Venetian Serapis- Hilarion * Jesus « The cene tetrad 





Asekha 
45th 


Initiation 








DIAGRAM 4 





Cuapter XIII 
THE TRINITY AND THE TRIANGLES 


We know that the Logos of our Solar System— 
and that is what most men mean when they speak 
of God—is a Trinity; He has, or rather is, Three 
Persons; He functions through Three Aspects. These 
are called by many different names in the different 
religions, but They are not always viewed in the same 
way; for this mighty scheme of a Trinity has so many 
Aspects that no one religion has ever succeeded in 
symbolizing the whole truth. In some faiths we have 
a Trinity of Father, Mother, Son, which is at least 
comprehensible to us when we think of methods of 
generation and interaction. Of this type we find 
Osiris, Isis and Horus in the Egyptian teaching, and 
in Scandinavian mythology, Odin, Freya and Thor. 
The Assyrians and Pheenicians believed in a Trinity, 
the Persons of which were Anu, Ea and Bel. The 
Druids called Them Taulac, Fan and Mollac. In 
Northern Buddhism we hear of Amitabha, Avaloki- 
teshvara and Manjushri. In the Kabala of the 
Jews the Three are Kether, Binah and Chokma, and 
in the Zoroastrian religion Ahuramazda, Asha and 
Vohumano, or sometimes Ahuramazda, Mithra and 
Ahriman. Everywhere the principal of the Trinity 


266 THe MASTERS AND THE PaTH 


is recognized, though the manifestations are dif- 
ferent. 

In the great Hindu system there is the Trinity of 
Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma. The Mother element is 
not shown in this Trinity, but it is indirectly recog- 
nized in that each of these Three is said to have a 
Shakti or power, which is sometimes in the symbolism 
named His consort. This is evidently. a manifestation 
of His power in matter, perhaps a somewhat lower 
manifestation than that of which we must think 
when we mention the Trinity Itself. In the Chris- 
tian system we have the Trinity of Father, Son and 
Holy Ghost; and it is interesting in this connection 
to note that in some of the old books the Holy Ghost 
is definitely mentioned as being feminine. 

There is also a similar Trinity in the case of higher 
and greater Logoi; and far behind and beyond all 
that we can know or imagine there is the Absolute, 
of which the presentation is also a Trinity. At the 
other end of the scale we find a Trinity in man, his 
Spirit, his Intuition and his Intelligence; which rep- 
resent the threefold qualities of Will, Wisdom and 
Activity. This Trinity in man is an image of that 
other and greater Trinity; yet it is also much more 
than an image. It is not only symbolical of the 
Three Persons of the Logos, but in some way impos- 
sible to understand in physical consciousness, it is also 
an actual expression and manifestation of those Three 
Persons at this lower level. 

As the Logos is a Trinity, so the occult government 


< 


wy . 
ae ee 


> 


es 








Tuer TRINITY AND THE TRIANGLES 267 


of the world is in three great departments, ruled by 
three Mighty Officials, Who are not merely reflections 
of the Three Aspects of the Logos, but are in a very 
real way actual manifestations of Them. They are 
the Lord of the World, the Lord Buddha and the 
Maha-Chohan, Who have reached grades of Initia- 
tion which give Them waking consciousness on the 
planes of nature beyond the field of evolution of 
humanity, where dwells the manifested Logos.* The 
Lord of the World is one with the First Aspect on 
the highest of our seven planes, and wields the Divine 
Will on earth; the Buddha is united with the Second 
Aspect which dwells on the Anupadaka plane, and 
sends the Divine Wisdom down to mankind; the 
Maha-Chohan is utterly one with the Third Aspect, 
which resides in the Nirvanic plane and exercises 
the Divine Activity—representing the Holy Ghost. 
He is verily the Arm of the Lord stretched out into 
the world to do His work. The following table will 
make this clear: 


OWERS 
Anupadaka or Monadic | The Lord Buddha aed 


Atmic or Spiritual The Maha-Chohan ust 


DIAGRAM 5 







*See A Study in Consciousness, by Annie Besant, pp. 3-5. 


268 Tue Masters AND THE PaTH 


The first and second members of this great Tri- 
angle are different from the third, being engaged in 
work of a character that does not descend to the 
physical plane, but only to the level of the buddhic 
body in the case of the Lord Buddha, and the Atmic 
plane in that of the great Agent of the First Aspect. 
Yet without Their higher work none of that at lower 
levels would be possible, so They provide for the 
transmission of Their influence even to the lowest 
plane through Their representatives, the Manu Vai- 
vasvata and the Lord Maitreya respectively. 

These two great Adepts stand parallel with the 
Maha-Chohan on Their respective Rays, both hav- 
ing taken the Initiation that bears that name; and 
thus another Triangle is formed, to administer the 
powers of the Logos down to the physical plane. We 
may express the two Triangles in one diagram thus: 





DIAGRAM 6 


Tue TRINITY AND THE TRIANGLES 269 


For the entire period of a root-race the Manu 
works out the details of its evolution, and the Bodhi- 
sattva, as World-Teacher, Minister of Education and 
Religion, helps its members to develop whatever of 
spirituality is possible for them at that stage, while 
the Maha-Chohan directs the minds of men so that 
the different forms of culture and civilization shall 
be unfolded according to the cyclic plan. Head and 
Heart are These, and the Hand with five Fingers, 
all active in the world, molding the race into one 
organic being, a Heavenly Man. 

This last term is no mere simile, but describes a 
literal fact, for, at the close of each root-race effort, 
those who have attained Adeptship within it form a 
mighty organism which is in a very real sense one, 
a Heavenly Man, in Whom, as in an earthly man, 
are seven great centers, each of which is a mighty 
Adept. The Manu and the Bodhisattva will occupy 
in this great Being the place of the brain and heart 
centers, and in Them and as part of Them, gloriously 
one with Them, shall we Their servants be; and the 
splendid totality will go on in its further evolution 
to become a Minister of some future Solar Deity. 
Yet so transcending all comprehension is the wonder 
of it all that this union with others does not mar the 
freedom of any Adept in the Heavenly Man, nor 
preclude His acting quite outside its scope. 

Until recently it was not the rule that the office of 
Maha-Chohan should be occupied by a permanent 
Adept of that grade. It was usual that each of the 


270 Tue MASTERS AND THE PaTtTH 


five Chohans, in rotation, should be appointed to 
leadership over all five Rays, though before occupy- 
ing that position He was required to take the Maha- 
Chohan Initiation. At present, however, we find a 
Chohan in charge of each of the five Rays, and also 
a Maha-Chohan separate from all of Them—a de- 
parture from what we understand to be the ordinary 
method that may be due principally to the near com- 
ing of the World-Teacher. 

On these Five Rays, Three to Seven, the highest 
Initiation that can be taken on our globe is that of 
the Maha-Chohan, but it is possible to go further 
on the First and Second Rays, as is indicated in the 
following table of Initiations, in which it will be seen 


Silent 
Watcher 











Initiations possible on the First and Second Rays only 


Lord 
of the 
% World 
‘ 
es ay 
ay Buddha 
fe Bodhi- 
sattva Mana-CHoHAN 





Initiations 


sai [aie [eis [ ai 


First | Second Fifth Sixth | Seventh 
Ray Ray Ray Ray 


DIAGRAM 7 








Tue TRINITY AND THE TRIANGLES 271 


that the Buddha Initiation is possible on the Second 
and First Rays, and that the Adept may go still 
further on the First. 

Lest it should seem as though in this fact there 
lay something in the nature of an injustice, it must 
be made clear that Nirvana is attainable as soon on 
one Ray as on another: any man on reaching the 
Asekha level is at once free to enter this condition 
of bliss for a period that to us would seem eternity; 
but He enters its first stage only, which, exalted in- 
finitely beyond our comprehension as it is, is yet far 
below the higher stages available to the Chohan and 
Maha-Chohan respectively, while even these in turn 
pale before the glory of those divisions of the Nir- 
vanic state which those Adepts reach Who make the 
tremendous effort necessary to take during earth-life 
the still higher Initiations of the First and Second 
Ray. Further progress is also possible on the five 
Rays to those who take up other lines of work out- 
side our Hierarchy. 

The possibility of changing one’s Ray by the firm 
determination to do so leaves all paths alike open to 
the occult student. It is known that both the Mas- 
ters with whom the Theosophical Society has been 
most closely connected have chosen to make this 
effort, and those of us who wish to retain our affilia- 
tion to them as individuals are therefore, consciously 
or unconsciously, in course of making it also. The 
method by which the transfer is effected is simple 
enough in theory, though often very difficult to carry 


2712 Tue MASTERS AND THE PATH 


out in practice. If a student on the Sixth or devo- 
tional Ray wishes to transfer himself to the Second 
Ray, that of wisdom, he must first endeavor to bring 
himself under the influence of the second subdivision 
of his own Sixth Ray. Then he will try steadily to 
intensify the influence of that subray in his life, until 
it becomes the dominant one. Thus instead of being 
on the second subdivision of the Sixth Ray he will 
find himself on the sixth subdivision of the Second 
Ray; in a word, he has tempered his devotion by 
mcereasing knowledge till it has become devotion to 
the Divine Wisdom. From that he can if he wishes, 
by sufficiently strenuous and long-continued effort, 
further transfer himself to some other subdivision of 
the Second Ray. 

Evidently here we have a departure from the or- 
dinary rules of procedure, for a Monad who came 
forth through one Planetary Spirit will return 
through another. Such changes are comparatively 
rare, and tend to balance one another satisfactorily 
at the end. The transfers are usually to the First 
and Second Rays, and there are relatively few per- 
sons on those two at the lower levels of evolution. 

The marvelous unity with the Logos of the mem- 
bers of these Triangles may be well illustrated by 
the case of the Bodhisattva. We have seen that the 
union of pupil with Master is closer than any tie . 
imaginable on earth; closer still, because at a higher 
level, was that between the Master Kuthumi and His 
Teacher the Master Dhruva, Who was in His turn a 


Tue TRINITY AND THE TRIANGLES 273 


pupil of the Lord Maitreya, during the time when 
the latter took pupils. Thereby the Master Kuthumi 
became also one with the Lord Maitreya, and as at 
Their level unity is still more perfect, the Master 
Kuthumi is one with the Bodhisattva in a very won- 
derful way. 

The Adepts seem so far above us that we can 
hardly distinguish any difference in glory between 
the lower and the higher levels. They all look like 
stars above us, and yet They speak of Themselves 
as dust under the feet of the Lord Maitreya. There 
must be an enormous difference there, even though 
we cannot see it. We look up to these stupendous 
heights and all appears a blinding glory, in which 
we cannot presume to distinguish one as greater than 
another, except that we can see by the size of the 
aura that there are differences. But at least we can 
comprehend that the unity of the Master Kuthumi 
with the Lord Maitreya must be a far greater and 
more real union than anything imaginable at lower 
levels. Still more is the Bodhisattva one with that 
Second Person of the Logos Whom He represents. 
He has taken the office of representing Him here on 
earth, and that is the meaning of the hypostatic union 
between Christ as God and Christ as man. For He, 
the Bodhisattva, Whom in the West we call the Lord 
Christ, is the Intuitional Wisdom, the Representative 
and Expression of the Second Person of the Blessed 
Trinity. Herein is the mystery which underlies the 
two natures of the Christ, “Who, although He be 


274 Tue MASTERS AND THE PaTH 


God and Man, yet He is not two, but one Christ— 
One, not by conversion of the Godhead into flesh, but 
by taking of the manhood into God.” 

The Second Person of the Ever-Blessed Trinity ex- 
isted ages before the Lord Maitreya came into evo- 
lution; and the first descent of that Second Person 
into incarnation was when as the Second Outpouring 
He took the vehicles of His manifestation out of the 
virgin matter of His new solar system, already im- 
pregnated and vivified by God the Holy Ghost. 
When that has been done we have for the first time 
Christ unmanifested as opposed to Christ manifested, 
and even at that time it must have been true that 
Christ as God was in one sense greater than Christ 
as man. As the Bodhisattvas Who are to represent 
this Second Person on different planets of His system 
one by one attain the Headship of Their Ray, They 
in turn become so thoroughly one with Him that 
They deserve the title of Christ as Man; and so at 
the moment of the consummation of such Initiation 
the hypostatic union takes place for each of Them. 

This Second Aspect of the Logos pours Himself 
down into matter, is incarnated, and becomes man; 
and is therefore “equal to the Father as touching His 
Godhead, and inferior to the Father as touching His 
manhood,” as is said in the Athanasian Creed. Our 
Lord the Bodhisattva has been a man like ourselves, 
and is such a man still, though a perfected man; yet 
that manhood has so been taken into the Godhead 
that He is in truth a very Christ, a Representation 


Tue TRINITY AND THE TRIANGLES 275 


of the Second Aspect of the Trinity; for in Him and 
through Him it is possible for us to reach to that 
Divine Power. That is why the Christ is spoken of 
as the Mediator between God and man; it is not that. 
He is making a bargain on our behalf, or buying 
us off from some horrible punishment, as many ortho- 
dox Christians believe, but that He is in truth a 
Mediator, One that stands between the Logos and 
man, Whom man can see, and through Whom the 
power of the Deity pours forth to humankind. 
Therefore is He the Head of all religions through 
which these blessings come. 


CHAPTER XIV 
THE WISDOM IN THE TRIANGLES 


The Buddha of the present time is the Lord Gau- 
tama, Who took His last birth in India about two 
thousand five hundred years ago, and in that incar- 
nation finished His series of lives as Bodhisattva, and 
succeeded the previous Buddha Kasyapa as Head of 
the Second Ray in the Occult Hierarchy of our globe. 
His life as Siddartha Gautama has been wonder- 
fully told in Sir Edwin Arnold’s Light of Asia, one 
of the most beautiful and inspiring poems in our lan- 
guage. Seven Buddhas appear in succession during 
a world period, one for each race, and each in turn 
takes charge of the special work of the Second Ray 
for the whole world, devoting Himself to that part 
of it which lies in the higher worlds, while He en- 
trusts to His assistant and representative, the Bod- 
hisattva, the office of World-Teacher for the lower 
planes. For One Who attains this position Oriental 
writers think no praise too high, no devotion too deep, 
and just as we regard those Masters to Whom we 
look up as all but divine in goodness and wisdom, 
so to an even greater degree do They regard the 
Buddha. Our present Buddha was the first of our 
humanity. to attain that stupendous height, the pre- 


THE WISDOM IN THE TRIANGLES 271% 


vious Buddhas having been the product of other evo- 
lutions, and a very special effort was needed on His 
part to prepare Himself for this lofty post, an effort 
so stupendous that He is spoken of constantly by 
the Buddhists as the Mahabhinishkramana, the 
Great Sacrifice. 

Many thousands of years ago there arose the need 
for one of the Adepts to become the World-Teacher 
of the fourth root-race; for the time had come when 
humanity should be able to supply its own Buddhas. 
Up to the middle of the fourth round of the fourth 
incarnation of our Chain, which was exactly the cen- 
tral point of the scheme of evolution to which we 
belong, the great Officers Who were required—the 
Manus and the World-Teachers and others—were 
supplied to our humanity by more advanced human- 
ities of other Chains, which had made more progress. 
or perhaps were older than we; and we ourselves, hav- 
ing been thus assisted, shall in our turn have later 
on the privilege to make provision for other and more 
backward schemes of evolution. 

In such ways the real brotherhood of all that lives 
is demonstrated; and we see that it is not merely a 
brotherhood of humanity, or even of the life in this 
Chain of worlds, but that all the Chains in the Solar 
System mutually interact and help one another. I 
have no direct evidence that Solar Systems give as- 
sistance to each other in such ways, but I should 
imagine it by analogy to be almost certain that even: 
that is done. At least I have myself seen Visitors. 


278 Tue MAsTersS AND THE PatTH 


from other systems, as I have said before, and have 
noticed that They are not merely traveling for 
pleasure, but are certainly in our system for some 
good purpose. What Their purpose is I do not know; 
but of course it is not my business. 

Now at this time in the remote past to which we 
have referred, humanity should have begun to provide 
its own Teachers; but we are told that no one had 
quite reached the level required for the incurring of 
so tremendous a responsibility. The first fruits of 
humanity at this period were two Brothers Who 
stood equal in occult development; One being He 
Whom we now call the Lord Gautama Buddha, and 
the Other our present World-Teacher, the Lord Mai- 
treya. In what way They fell short of the required 
qualifications we do not know, but out of His great 
love for humanity the Lord Gautama instantly of- 
fered to make Himself ready to undertake whatever 
additional effort might be necessary to attain the re- 
quired development. We learn from traditions that 
life after life He practiced special virtues, each life 
showing out some great quality achieved. 

That great sacrifice of the Buddha is spoken of in 
all the sacred books of the Buddhists; but they have 
not understood the nature of the sacrifice, for many 
believe it to have been the descent of the Lord 
Buddha from nirvanic levels, after His Illumination, 
to teach His Law. It is true that He did so descend, 
but that would not be anything in the nature of a 
sacrifice; it would only be an ordinary, but not very 


Se ae ee eel 


ee 


oe 


a 
a 
* op! 


Seat 
= 


a 


EPONA eS 


A RP ss ae oe 





Tue WISDOM IN THE TRIANGLES 279 


pleasant piece of work. The great sacrifice that He 
made was this spending of thousands of years in order 
to qualify Himself to be the first of mankind Who 
should help His brother-men by teaching to them the 
Wisdom which is life eternal. That work was done, 
and nobly done. We know something of the various 
incarnations that He took after that, as Bodhisattva 
of His time, though there may be many more of which 
we know nothing. He appeared as Vyasa; He was 
the first of the twenty-nine Zoroasters, the Teachers 
of the Religion of the Fire; He came to ancient Egypt 
as Hermes, the Thrice-Greatest, Who was called the 
Father of All Wisdom; still later He walked amongst 
the Greeks as Orpheus, and taught them by means 
of music and of song; and finally He took His last 
birth in the north of India, and wandered up and 
down the Ganges valley for five and forty years, 
preaching His Law, and drawing round Himself all 
those who in previous lives had been His pupils. 

In some way which we cannot hope yet to under- 
stand, because of the great strain of those many ages 
of effort, there were certain points in the work of the 
Lord Buddha which it may be that He had not time 
to perfect utterly. It is impossible at such a level 
for there to be anything in the nature of a failure or 
_a fault, but perhaps the strain of the past was too 
great even for such power as His. We cannot know; 
but the fact remains that there were certain minor 
matters to which at the time He could not perfectly 
attend, and therefore the after-life of the Lord Gau- 


280 Tue MASTERS AND THE PATH 


tama was not quite the same as that of His Prede- 
cessors. It is usual, as I have said, for a Bodhisattva 
when He has lived His final life and become Buddha 
—when He has entered into glory, bearing His 
sheaves with Him, as it is put in the Christian Scrip- 
tures—to hand over His external work entirely to 
His Successor, and devote Himself to His labors for 
humanity at higher levels. Whatever may be these 
manifold activities of a Dhyani Buddha they do not 
bring Him again into birth on earth; but because of 
the peculiar circumstances surrounding the life of the 
Lord Gautama two differences were made, two sup- 
plementary acts were performed. 

The first was the sending by the Lord of the World, 
the Great King, the One Initiator, of one of His 
three Pupils, Who are all Lords of the Flame from 
Venus, to take earthly incarnation almost immedi- 
ately after the attainment of Buddhahood by the Lord 
Gautama, in order that by a very short life spent in 
traveling over India He might establish therein cer- 
tain centers of religion called mathas. His name in 
that incarnation was Shankaracharya—not he who 
wrote the commentaries, but the great Founder of his 
line, Who lived more than two thousand years before. 

Shri Shankaracharya founded a certain school of 
Hindu Philosophy; revived Hinduism to a large ex- 
tent, putting new life into its forms, and gathering 
together many of the teachings of the Buddha. Hin- 
duism to-day, though in many ways it may fall short 
of its high ideal, is a very much more living faith 


Tue WISDOM IN THE TRIANGLES 281 


than in the old days before the coming of the Buddha, 
when it had degenerated into a system of formalism. 
Shri Shankaracharya was also largely responsible for 
the disappearance of animal sacrifices; although such 
sacrifices are still offered in India, they are but few, 
and those are on a very small scale. Besides His 
teaching on the physical plane, Shri Shankaracharya 
accomplished certain occult work in connection with 
the higher planes of nature which was of considerable 
importance to the later life of India. 

The second supplementary act to which I have re- 
ferred above was undertaken by the Lord Gautama 
Himself. Instead of devoting Himself wholly to 
other and higher work, He has remained sufficiently 
in touch with His world to be reached by the invoca- 
tion of His Successor when necessary, so that His ad- 
vice and help can still be obtained in any great 
emergency. He also undertook to return to the world 
once in each year, on the anniversary of His death, 
and shed upon it a flood of blessing. 

The Lord Buddha has His own especial type of 
force, which He outpours when He gives His blessing 
to the world, and this benediction is a unique and 
very marvelous thing; for by His authority and posi- 
tion a Buddha has access to planes of nature which 
-are altogether beyond our reach, hence He can trans- 
mute and draw down to our level the forces peculiar 
to those planes. Without this mediation of the 
Buddha these forces would be of no use to us here in 
physical life; their vibrations are so tremendous, so 


282 | Tue MASTERS AND THE PaTH 


incredibly rapid, that they would pass through us 
unsensed at any level we can reach, and we should 
never even know of their existence. But as it is, the 
force of the blessing is scattered all over the world; 
and it instantly finds for itself channels through 
which it can pour, just as water instantly finds an 
open pipe, thereby strengthening all good work and 
bringing peace to the hearts of those who are able to 
receive it. 

The occasion selected for this wonderful outpouring 
is the full moon day of the Indian month of Vaisakh 
(called in Ceylon, Wesak, and usually corresponding 
to the English May), the anniversary of all the mo- 
mentous occurrences of His last earthly life—His 
birth, His attainment of Buddhahood, and His de- 
parture from the physical body. 

In connection with this visit of His, and quite apart 
from its tremendous esoteric significance, an exoteric 
ceremony is performed on the physical plane at which 
the Lord actually shows Himself in the presence of 
a crowd of ordinary pilgrims. Whether He shows 
Himself to the pilgrims I am not certain; they all 
prostrate themselves at the moment when He appears, 
but that may be only in imitation of the prostration 
of the Adepts and Their pupils, who do see the Lord 
Gautama. It seems probable that some at least of 
the pilgrims have seen Him for themselves, for the 
existence of the ceremony is widely known among the 
Buddhists of central Asia, and it is spoken of as the 
appearance of the Shadow or Reflection of the 


Tue WISDOM IN THE TRIANGLES 283 


Buddha, the description given of it in such traditional 
accounts being as a rule fairly accurate. So far as 
we can see there appears to be no reason why any 
person whatever who happens to be in the neighbor- 
hood at the time may not be present at the ceremony ; 
no apparent effort is made to restrict the number of 
spectators; though it is true that one hears stories of 
parties of pilgrims who have wandered for years 
without being able to find the spot. 

All members of the Great White Brotherhood, ex- 
cept the King Himself and His three disciples, usually 
attend this ceremony; and there is no reason why any 
of our earnest Theosophical members should not be 
present at it in their astral bodies. Those to whom 
the secret has been confided usually try so to arrange 
matters as to put their physical bodies to sleep an 
hour or so before the exact moment of full moon, 
and to be undisturbed until about an hour after it. 

The place selected is a small plateau surrounded 
by low hills, which lies on the northern side of the 
Himalayas, not far from the frontier of Nepal, and 
perhaps about four hundred miles west of the city of 
Lhassa. This little plain is roughly oblong in shape, 
its length being perhaps a mile and a half and its 
breadth rather less. The ground slopes slightly from 
south to north, and is mostly bare and stony, though 
in some places covered with coarse wiry grass and 
rough scrubby vegetation. A stream runs down part 
of the west side of the plateau, crosses its northwest 
corner, and escapes about the middle of the north side 


South 


West 







“My 
Mayen 15 

yey V7; aN Spry gpI np appr 
lly, A Myon tng Target) my 

Maqui : @ 2 € 
i! ¥ SS 
= eH =z wf 

SN Pia b! S E4 » 
ND) @6 = FS 
= Juz < 

e 4, S 

= 

= 

= . i os 

= bd - 3 * 

E aS = 

é Sale 3: 3 ¢ 4 

= - “e * oe by 
é eo ee as 2, 

Z ay Yullfg 
A 3 
€ 4. 

my cus 

YU costbayottnn iin HUT omg Udwaly 


M, \ \ 
Gldddsiy My try yd Mya vo tag silly Mj 


Bo" 


East 





Lake a 


DIAGRAM 8 






THE WISDOM IN THE TRIANGLES 285 


through a pine-clothed ravine, eventually reaching a 
lake which is visible at a distance of some miles. The 
surrounding country seems wild and uninhabited, and 
there are no buildings in sight except a single ruined 
stupa with two or three huts beside it, on the slope 
of one of the hills on the eastern side of the plain. 
About the center of the southern half of the plain lies 
a huge block of grayish-white stone, veined with some 
glittering substance—an altar-like block, perhaps 
twelve feet in length by six feet wide, and standing 
about three feet out of the ground. 

For some days before the appointed time an ever- 
increasing cluster of tents of strange and uncouth 
appearance (most of them black) may be seen along 
the banks of the stream, and down the sides of the 
neighboring hills; and this otherwise desolate spot is 
enlivened by the camp-fires of a considerable multi- 
tude. Large numbers of men come in from the wan- 
dering tribes of central Asia, and some even from the 
far north. On the day before the full moon all these 
pilgrims take a special ceremonial bath, and wash all 
their clothes in preparation for the ceremony. 

Some hours before the time of the full moon these 
people gather in the lower or northern part of the 
plain and seat themselves in a quiet and orderly man- 
ner on the ground, always taking care to leave a 
considerable space before the great altar stone. Gen- 
erally some of the lamas are present, and they usu- 
ally take this opportunity to deliver addresses to the 
people. About an hour before the moment when the 


286 Tue MASTERS AND THE PaTtH 


moon is full the astral visitors begin to arrive, among 
them the members of the Brotherhood. Some of These 
generally materialize Themselves so as to be seen by 
the pilgrims, and are received with genuflections and 
prostrations. Often our Masters and some even 
greater than They condescend on this occasion to 
converse in a friendly manner with Their pupils and 
with others who are present. While this is going on 
those who are appointed to do so prepare the great 
altar stone for the ceremony by covering it with the 
most beautiful flowers and placing at each corner of 
it great garlands of the sacred lotus. In the center 
is placed a magnificently chased golden bowl full of 
water, and immediately in front of that a space is 
left among the flowers. 

About half an hour before the moment of full 
moon, at a signal given by the Maha-Chohan, the 
members of the Brotherhood draw together in the 
open space in the center of the plain to the north of 
the great altar of stone, and arrange Themselves 
three deep in a large circle, all facing inwards, the 
outermost circle being composed of the younger mem- 
bers of the Brotherhood, and the greater Officials 
occupying certain points in the innermost circle. 

Some verses from the Buddhist scriptures are then 
chanted in the Pali language, and as the voices die 
into silence, the Lord Maitreya materializes in the 
center of the circle, holding in His hands the Rod of 
Power. This wonderful symbol is in some way a 


THE WISDOM IN THE TRIANGLES 287 


physical center or fulcrum for the forces poured forth 
by the Planetary Logos, and was magnetized by Him 
millions of years ago, when first He set the human 
life-wave in motion round our chain of globes. We 
are told that it is the physical sign of the concentra- 
tion of the attention of the Logos, and that it is car- 
ried from planet to planet as that attention shifts— 
that where it is, that is for the moment the central 
theater of evolution, and that when it leaves this 
planet for the next, our earth will sink into compar- 
ative inertia. Whether it is. carried also to the non- 
physical planets we do not know, nor do we under- 
stand exactly the way in which it is used, nor the part 
which it plays in the economy of the world. It is 
kept usually in the custody of the Lord of the World 
at Shamballa, and so far as we know this Wesak F'es- 
tival is the only occasion on which it ever leaves his 
care. It is a round bar of the lost metal orichalcum, 
perhaps two feet in length and about two inches in 
diameter, having at each end a huge diamond shaped 
into a ball with a cone projecting from it. It has the 
strange appearance of being always surrounded by 
fire—of having an aura of brilliant yet transparent 
flame. It is noteworthy that no one but the Lord 
Maitreya touches it during any part of the ceremony. 





DIAGRAM 9 


288 Tue MASTERS AND THE PaTH 


On His materialization in the center of the circle 
all the Adepts and Initiates bow gravely towards 
Him, and another verse is chanted. After this, still 
intoning verses, the inner rings divide into eight parts, 
so as to form a cross within the outer circle, the Lord 
Maitreya still remaining at the center. At the next 
movement of this stately ritual, the cross becomes a 
triangle, the Lord Maitreya moving forward so as to 
stand at its apex, and therefore close to the altar 
stone. Upon that altar, in the open space left in front 
of the golden bowl, the Lord Maitreya reverently lays 
the Rod of Power, while behind Him the circle 
changes into a rather involved curved figure, so that 
all are facing the altar. At the next change the 
curved figure becomes a reversed triangle, so that we 
have a representation of the well-known sign of the 
Theosophical Society, though without its encircling 
snake. This figure in turn resolves itself into the 
five-pointed star, the Lord Maitreya being still at the 


QO RO w 


Dr1acrRAM 10 


THE WISDOM IN THE TRIANGLES 289 


southern point nearest the altar stone, and the other 
great Officials or Chohans at the five points where the 
lines intersect. A diagram of the symbolic figures !s 
herewith appended, as some of them are not easy to 
describe. 

When this seventh and final stage is reached the 
chanting ceases, and after a few moments of solemn 
silence the Lord Maitreya, again taking the Rod of 
Power into His hands and raising it above His head, 
utters in a few sonorous words of Pali: 

“All is ready; Master, come!”’ 

Then as He again lays down the fiery rod, at the 
exact moment of the full moon, the Lord Buddha 
appears as a gigantic figure floating in the air just 
above the southern hills. The members of the Broth- 
erhood bow with joined hands, and the multitude 
behind them fall on their faces and remain prostrate, 
while the others sing the three verses which were 
taught by the Lord Buddha Himself during His earth- 
life to the school-boy Chatta: 


The Lord Buddha, the Sage of the Sakyas, is among man- 
kind the best of Teachers. He has done that which was to 
be done, and has crossed to the other shore (Nirvana). He is 
filled with strength and energy; Him, the Blessed One, I take 
for my guide. 


The truth is non-material; it brings freedom from passion, 
desire and sorrow; it is free from all stain; it is sweet, plain 
and logical; this truth I take as my guide. 


Whatever is given to the eight kinds of the Noble Ones, 
Who in pairs form the four grades, Who know the truth, 
verily brings great reward; this Brotherhood of the Noble 
Ones I take as my guide. 


290 Tue Masters AND THE PatTH 


Then the people rise and stand gazing at the pres- 
ence of the Lord while the Brotherhood chants for the 
benefit of the people the noble words of the Maha- 
mangala Sutta, which has been translated thus (I 
think by Professor Rhys Davids) : 


“When yearning for good, many devas and men 
Have held divers things to be blessings; 
Do thou then inform us, O Master, 

What is the greatest blessing?” - 


“Not to serve the foolish, 

But to serve the wise; 

To honor those worthy of honor; 
This is the greatest blessing. 


To dwell in a pleasant land, 

To have done good deeds in a former birth, 

To have a soul filled with right desires; 
This is the greatest blessing. 


Much insight and much education, 

Self-control and a well-trained mind, 

Pleasant words that are well spoken; 
This is the greatest blessing. 


To support father and mother, 

To cherish wife and child, 

To follow a peaceful calling; 
This is the greatest blessing. 


To bestow alms and live righteously, 

To give help to one’s kindred, 

To do deeds which cannot be blamed; 
This is the greatest blessing. 


To abhor and cease from sin, 

To abstain from strong drink, 

Not to be weary in well-doing; 
This is the greatest blessing. 


To be long-suffering and meek, 

To associate with the tranquil, 

Religious talk at due seasons; 
This is the greatest blessing. 


Tue WISDOM IN THE TRIANGLES 291 


Self-restraint and purity, 
The knowledge of the Four Great Truths, 
The realization of Nirvana; 

This is the greatest blessing. 


Beneath the stroke of life’s changes 

The soul that stands unshaken, 

Passionless, unsorrowing, secure; 
This is the greatest blessing. 


Invincible on every side 

Is he who acteth thus; 

On every side he walks in safety; 
And his is the greatest blessing.” 

The figure which floats above the hills is of enor- 
mous size, but exactly reproduces the form and fea- 
tures of the body in which the Lord last lived on 
earth. He appears seated cross-legged, with the 
hands together, dressed in the yellow robe of the 
Buddhist monk, but wearing it so as to leave the 
right arm bare. No description can give an idea of 
the face—a face truly God-like, for it combines calm- 
ness and power, wisdom and love in an expression 
containing all that our minds can imagine of the 
Divine. We may say that the complexion is clear 
yellowish-white, and the features clearly cut; that 
the forehead is broad and noble; the eyes large, 
luminous and of a deep dark blue; the nose slightly 
aquiline; the lips red and firmly set; but all this puts 
before us merely the outer mask and gives but a 
little grasp of the living whole. The hair is black— 
almost blue-black—and wavy; curiously, it is neither 
worn long according to Indian custom, nor shaved 
off altogether in the manner of Oriental monks, but 


292 Tue MASTERS AND THE PatH 


is cut off just before it reaches the shoulders, parted 
in the center and swept back from the forehead. 
The story is told that when the Prince Siddartha left 
home to seek the truth, he seized his long hair and 
cut it off close above his head with a sweep of his 
sword, and that ever afterwards he kept it at the 
same length. 

When the Mahamangala Sutta is finished, the Lord 
Maitreya takes the golden bowl of water from the 
altar stone, and holds it above His head for a few 
moments, while the multitude behind, who have also 
provided themselves with vessels filled with water, 
follow His example. As He replaces it on the altar 
stone another verse is chanted: 

He is the Lord, the Saint Who is perfect in knowledge, 
Who possesses the eight kinds of knowledge and has accom- 
plished the fifteen holy practices, Who has come the good 
journey which led to the Buddhahood, Who knows the three 
worlds, the unrivaled, the Teacher of gods and men, the 
Blessed One, the Lord Buddha. 

As this ends, a smile of ineffable love beams forth 
from the face of the Lord as He raises His right hand 
in the attitude of benediction while a great shower 
of flowers falls among the people. Again the mem- 
bers of the Brotherhood bow, again the crowd pros- 
trates itself, and the figure slowly fades out of the 
sky, while the multitude relieves itself in shouts of 
joy and praise. The members of the Brotherhood 
come up to the Lord Maitreya in the order of Their 
admission, and each sips the water in the golden 
bowl, and the people also sip theirs, taking the re- 


Tue WISDOM IN THE TRIANGLES 293 


mainder home in their quaint leather bottles as holy 
water to drive away all evil influences from their 
houses or perhaps to cure the sick. Then the vast 
company breaks up with mutual congratulations, and 
the people bear away to their far-distant homes an 
ineffaceable memory of the wonderful ceremony in 
which they have taken part. 

An interesting glimpse of the Predecessors of the 
Buddha is to be found in the Vision of St. John the 
Divine: 

“And round about the throne were four and twenty 
seats; and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders 
sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on 
their heads crowns of gold.” He who is privileged 
to see this—and remember it will come to everyone 
some day—does so from the special point of view 
of his own beliefs. Therefore St. John saw what he 
expected to see, the twenty-four elders of the Jewish 
tradition. That number, twenty-four, marks the 
date at which this vision was first seen, or rather 
the date at which the Jewish idea of that glory was 
formulated. If we now could raise ourselves into the 
Spirit, and could see that ineffable glory, we should 
see twenty-five, not twenty-four Elders, for there has 
been one Lord Buddha Who has attained since this 
Vision was crystallized in the Jewish scheme of higher 
thought. For those Elders are the Great Teachers 
Who have taught the worlds in this our Round. 
There are seven Buddhas to each world; that makes 
twenty-one for the three worlds which we have 


294 Tue MASTERS AND THE PATH 


passed, and then the Lord Gautama was the fourth 
of the Buddhas of this world. Therefore, twenty-four 
were the Elders in those old days, but They would 
be twenty-five if we could see Them now. 

The Christian Church has translated that some- 
what differently, taking those Elders as its twelve 
apostles and the twelve Jewish prophets. If those 
twenty-four were the apostles and the prophets, the 
seer must have seen himself among the rest, which 
would surely have been mentioned. Those Elders 
had on their heads crowns of gold, it is said, and a 
little later on we read that They cast their crowns 
before Him, as we sing in the glorious Trinity hymn. 

I remember that as a child I marveled much how 
that could be. It seemed a strange thing that these 
men could constantly cast down those crowns, and 
still have crowns to cast. I could not understand it, 
and I wondered what scheme there was for the re- 
turning of the crowns to their heads, so that they 
could cast them down again. Such faintly ridiculous 
ideas are perhaps not unnatural in a child; but they 
disappear when one understands. If we have seen 
images of the Lord Buddha we must have noticed 
that out of the crown of His head there usually comes 
a little mound or cone. It is as a crown, golden in 
color, which represents the outpouring spiritual force 
from what is called the brahmarandra chakra, the 
center at the top of the man’s head—the thousand- 
petaled lotus, as it is poetically called in Oriental 
books. 


Tuer WISDOM IN THE TRIANGLES 295 


In the highly developed man that center pours out 
splendor and glory, which makes for him a veritable 
crown; and the meaning of the passage is that all 
that he has developed, all the splendid karma that 
he makes, all the glorious spiritual force that he 
generates—all that he casts perpetually at the feet 
of the Logos to be used in His work. So, over and 
over again, can he continue to cast down his golden 
crown, because it perpetually re-forms as the force 
wells up from within him. 

The Lord Maitreya, Whose name means kindliness 
or compassion, took up the office of Bodhisattva when 
the Lord Gautama laid it down, and since then He 
has made many efforts for the promotion of Religion. 
One of His first steps on assuming office was to take 
advantage of the tremendous magnetism generated 
in the world by the presence of the Buddha, to ar- 
range that great Teachers should simultaneously ap- 
pear in many different parts of the earth; so that 
within a comparatively short space of time we find 
not only the Buddha Himself, Shri Shankaracharya 
and Mahavira in India, but also Mithra in Persia, 
Lao-tse and Confucius in China, and Pythagoras in 
ancient Greece. 

Twice He has Himself appeared—as Krishna in 
the Indian plains, and as Christ amid the hills of 
Palestine. In the incarnation as Krishna the great 
feature was always love; the Child Krishna drew 
round Him people who felt for Him the deepest, the 
most intense affection. Again in His birth in Pales- 


296 Tue MASTERS AND THE PATH 


tine, love was the central feature of His teaching. 
He said: “This new commandment I give unto you, 
that ye love one another as I have loved you.” He 
asked that His disciples might all be one in Him even 
as He was one with the Father. His closest disciple, 
St. John, insisted most strongly upon the same idea: 
“He that loveth not knoweth not God, for God is 
Love.” ; 

What is now called Christianity, as He originally 
taught it was undoubtedly a magnificent conception, 
sadly as it has fallen away from that high level in 
the hands of ignorant exponents since. It must not 
be assumed, of course, that the teaching of brotherly 
and neighborly love was new in the world. As St. 
Augustine said in his book De Civitate Dei, “The 
identical thing that we now call the Christian religion 
existed among the ancients, and has not been lacking 
from the beginnings of the human race until the 
coming of Christ in the flesh, from which moment on 
the true religion which already existed began to be 
called Christian.” Readers of The Bhagavad Gita 
will also remember the teaching of love and devotion 
with which it is filled. The Bodhisattva also occu- 
pied occasionally the body of Tsong-ka-pa, the great 
Tibetan religious reformer, and throughout the cen- 
turies He has sent forth a stream of His pupils, in- 
cluding Nagarjuna, Aryasanga, Ramanujacharya, 
Madhavacharya and many others, who founded new 
sects or threw new light upon the mysteries of re- 


Tue WISDOM IN THE TRIANGLES 297 


ligion, and among these was one of His pupils who 
was sent to found the Mohammedan faith. 

Now the time is ripe for Him to appear among us 
again on the physical plane, and He will surely come 
within a few years, and of this advent and of what 
He is likely to teach I have already written in a 
previous chapter. 

The sending out of the teachers I have mentioned 
above is only part of His work, which is not confined 
to humanity, but includes the education of all crea- 
tures on earth, and among them the Deva evolution. 
He is thus the head of all the faiths at present exist- 
ing, and of many others which have died out in the 
course of time, though He is of course only respon- 
sible for them in their original form and not for the 
corruption which man has naturally and inevitably 
introduced into all of them as the ages have rolled 
by. He varies the type of religion to suit the period 
of the world’s history at which it is put forth, and 
the people to whom it is given; but though the form 
may vary as evolution proceeds, the ethics are ever 
the same. 

He will come to earth many times more during the 
progress of the root-race, founding many such re- 
ligions, and each time drawing round Himself such 
men of that race as are prepared to follow Him, from 
among whose number He chooses some whom He can 
draw into closer relation with Himself, some who are 
pupils in the innermost sense. Then towards the end 


298 Tue MASTERS AND THE PatTH 


of the race, when it is already far past its prime, and 
a new race is beginning to dominate the world, He 
will arrange that all His special pupils who have 
followed Him in those previous incarnations shall 
come to birth together about the time of His last 
life in the world. 

In it He will attain the great Initiation of the 
Buddha, and thus gain perfect enlightenment; at that 
time these pupils of His, without physically knowing 
or remembering Him, will all be strongly attracted 
towards Him, and under His influence great numbers 
of them will enter the Path, and many will advance 
to the higher stages, having already in previous in- 
carnations made considerable progress. We thought 
at first that the accounts given in the Buddhist books 
of the large numbers of men who instantly attained 
the Arhat level when the Lord Gautama became the 
Buddha were beyond the bounds of possibility; but 
we found on closer examination that there was truth 
underlying those accounts. It is possible that the 
numbers were exaggerated, but that very many pupils 
did suddenly attain these higher degrees of Initiation 
under the impetus given by the mighty magnetism 
and power of the Buddha is undoubtedly a fact. 

Besides the great Wesak Festival, there is one other 
occasion in each year when the members of the Broth- 
erhood all meet together officially. The meeting in 
this case is usually held in the private house of the 
Lord Maitreya situated also in the Himalayas, but 
on the southern instead of the northern slopes. On 


Tue WISDOM IN THE TRIANGLES 299 


this occasion no pilgrims on the physical plane are 
present, but all astral visitors who know of the cele- 
bration are welcome to attend it. It is held on the 
full moon day of the month of Asala, usually corre- 
sponding to the English July. This is the anniver- 
sary of the delivery by the Lord Buddha of His first 
announcement of the great discovery—the sermon 
which He preached to His five disciples, commonly 
known as the Dhammachakkappavattana Sutta, 
which has been translated by Rhys Davids as “The 
Setting in Motion of the Royal Chariot Wheels of the 
Kingdom of Righteousness.” It is often more briefly 
described in Buddhist books as “The Turning of the 
Wheel of the Law.” It explains for the first time 
the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path, 
expounding the great middle way of the Buddha— 
the life of perfect righteousness in the world, which 
lies midway between the extravagances of asceticism 
on the one hand and the carelessness of mere worldly 
life on the other. 

In His love for His great Predecessor the Lord 
Maitreya has ordained that, whenever the anniver- 
sary of that first preaching comes round, the same 
sermon shall be recited once more in the presence 
of the assembled Brotherhood; and He usually adds 
to it a simple address of His own, expounding and 
applying it. The recitation of the sermon commences 
at the moment of full moon, and the reading and the 
address are usually over in about half an hour. The 
Lord Maitreya generally takes His place upon the 


300 Tue MASTERS AND THE PaTH 


marble seat which is set at the edge of a raised ter- 
race in the lovely garden just in front of His house. 
The greatest of the Officials sit close about Him, 
while the rest of the Brotherhood is grouped in the 
garden a few feet below. On this occasion, as on the 
other, there is often an opportunity for pleasant con- 
verse, and kindly greetings and benedictions are dis- 
tributed by the Masters among Their pupils and those 
who aspire to be Their pupils. 

It may be useful to give some account of the cere- 
mony, and of what is usually said at these Festivals, 
though it is, of course, utterly impossible to repro- 
duce the wonder and the beauty and the eloquence 
of the words of the Lord Maitreya on such occasions. 
The account which follows does not attempt to report 
any single discourse; it is a combination of, I fear, 
very imperfectly remembered fragments, some of 
which have already appeared elsewhere; but it will 
give to those who have not previously heard of it 
some idea of the line generally taken. 

That great sermon is wonderfully simple, and its 
points are repeated over and over again. There was 
no shorthand in those days, so that it might be taken 
down and read by everyone afterwards; His disciples 
had to remember His words by the impression made 
on them at the time. So He made them simple, and 
He repeated them again and again like a refrain, so 
that the people might be sure of them. One may 
readily see in reading it that it is constructed for this 
special purpose—that it may be easily remembered. 


THE WISDOM IN THE TRIANGLES 301 


Its points are arranged categorically, so that when 
it has once been heard each point reminds one of the 
next, as though it were a kind of mnemonic, and to 
the Buddhist each of these separate and easily re- 
membered words suggests a whole body of related 
ideas, so that the sermon, short and simple as it is, 
contains an explanation and a rule of life. 

One might well think that all that can be said 
about that sermon has been said already many times 
over; yet the Lord, with His wonderful eloquence 
and the way in which He puts it, makes it every year 
seem something new, and each person feels its mes- 
sage as though it were specially addressed to himself. 
On that occasion, as in the original preaching, the 
Pentecostal miracle repeats itself. The Lord speaks 
in the original sonorous Pali, but everyone present 
hears Him “in His own tongue wherein He was born,” 
as is said in the Acts of the Apostles. 

The sermon begins with a proclamation that the 
Middle Path is the safest, and indeed the only true 
Path. To plunge on the one hand into the sensual 
excesses and pleasures of the ordinary worldly life 
is mean and degrading, and leads a man nowhither. 
On the other hand, extravagant asceticism is also evil 
and useless. There may be a few to whom the high 
ascetic and solitary life appeals, and they may be 
capable of leading it rightly, though even then it 
must not be carried to excess; but for all ordinary 
people the Middle Way of a good life lived in the 
world is in every way best and safest. The first step 


302 Tue MASTERS AND THE PaTH 


towards the leading of such a life is to understand 
its conditions; and the Lord Buddha lays these down 
for us in what He has called the Four Noble Truths. 
These are: 

Sorrow or Suffering. 

The Cause of Sorrow. 


The Ceasing of Sorrow (or the Escape from Sorrow). 
The Way which leads to the Escape from Sorrow. 


see 


1. The first truth is an assertion that all mani- 
fested life is sorrow, unless man knows how to live 
it. In commenting upon this, the Bodhisattva said 
that there are two senses in which manifested life is 
sorrowful. One of these is to some éxtent inevitable, 
but the other is an entire mistake and is very easily 
to be avoided. To the Monad, which is the true 
spirit of man, all manifested life is in one sense a 
sorrow, because it is a limitation; a limitation which 
we in our physical brain cannot in the least conceive, 
because we have no idea of the glorious freedom of 
the higher life. In exactly the same sense it has 
always been said that the Christ offers Himself as a 
Sacrifice when He descends into matter. It is a sac- 
rifice undoubtedly, because it is an inexpressibly 
great limitation, for it shuts off from Him all the 
glorious powers which are His on His own level. The 
same is true of the Monad of man; he undoubtedly 
makes a great sacrifice when he brings himself into 
connection with lower matter, when he hovers over 
it through the long ages of its development up to the 
human level, when he puts down a tiny fragment of 


Tue WISDOM IN THE TRIANGLES 303 


himself (a finger-tip as it were) and thereby makes 
an ego or individual soul. 

Even though we may be only a tiny fragment— 
indeed, a fragment of a fragment—we are neverthe- 
less a part of a magnificent reality. There is noth- 
ing to be proud of in being only a fragment, but there 
is a certainty that because we are therefore part of 
the higher, we can eventually rise into the higher and 
become one therewith. That is the end and aim 
of our evolution. And even when we attain that, 
remember that it is not for the sake of our delight 
in the advancement, but that we may be able to help 
in the scheme. All these sacrifices and limitations 
may rightly be described as involving suffering; but 
they are undertaken gladly as soon as the ego fully 
understands. An ego has not the perfection of the 
Monad, and so he does not fully understand at first; 
he has to learn like everybody else. That quite tre- 
mendous limitation at each further descent into mat- 
ter is an unavoidable fact, and so there is that much 
of suffering inseparable from manifestation. We 
have to accept that limitation as a means to an end, 
as part of the Divine Scheme. 

There is another sense in which life is often sor- 
row, but a kind of sorrow that can be entirely 
avoided. The man who lives the ordinary life of the 
world often finds himself in trouble of various kinds. 
It would not be true to say that he is always in sor- 
row, but he is often in anxiety, and he is always 

liable at any moment to fall into great sorrow or 


304 Tue MASTERS AND THE PaTH 


anxiety. The reason for this is that he is full of 
lower desires of various kinds, not at all necessarily 
wicked, but desires for lower things; and because of 
these desires he is tied down and confined. He is 
constantly striving to attain something which he has 
not, and he is full of anxiety as to whether he will 
attain it; and when he has attained it, he is anxious 
lest he should lose it. This is true not only of money 
but of position and power, of wealth and of social 
advancement. All these cravings cause incessant 
trouble in many different ways. It is not only the 
individual anxiety of the man who has or has not 
some object of desire; we have also to take into 
account all the envy and jealousy and ill-feeling 
caused in the hearts of others who are striving for 
the same object. 

There are other objects of desire which seem higher 
than these and yet are not the highest. How often, 
for example, a young man desires affection from 
someone who cannot give it to him, who has it not 
to give! From such a desire as that comes often a 
great deal of sadness, jealousy and much other ill- 
feeling. You will say that such a desire is natural; 
undoubtedly it is, and affection which is returned is 
a great source of happiness. Yet if it cannot be re- 
turned, a man should have the strength to accept the 
situation, and not allow sorrow to be caused by the 
unsatisfied desire. When we say that a thing is nat- 
ural, we mean that it is what we might expect from 
the average man. But the student of occultism must 


Tue WISDOM IN THE TRIANGLES 305 


try to rise somewhat above the level of the average 
man—otherwise how can he help that man? We 
must rise above that level in order that we may be 
able to reach down a helping hand. We must aim 
not at the natural (in the sense of the average), but at 
the supernatural. 

One who is clairvoyant will readily subscribe to 
the truth of this great teaching of the Buddha, that 
on the whole life is sorrow, for if he looks at the 
astral and mental bodies of those whom he meets he 
will see that they are filled with a vast number of 
small vortices all whirling vigorously, representing 
all sorts of odd little thoughts, little anxieties, little 
troubles about one thing or another. All these cause 
disturbance and suffering, and what is needed most 
of all for progress is serenity. The only way to gain 
peace is to get rid of them altogether, and that brings 
us to our second noble truth, the Cause of Sorrow. 

2. We have already seen that the cause of sorrow 
is always desire. If a man has no desires, if he is not 
striving for place or power or wealth, then he is 
equally tranquil whether the wealth or position comes 
or whether it goes. He remains unruffled and serene 
because he does not care. Being human, he will of 
course wish for this or that, but always mildly and 
gently, so that he does not allow himself to be dis- 
turbed. We know, for example, how often people 
are prostrated with sorrow when they lose those 
whom they love by death. But if their affection 
_be at the higher level, if they love their friend and 


306 Tue MASTERS AND THE PATH 


not the body of their friend, there can be no sense 
of separation, and therefore no sorrow. If they are 
filled with desire for bodily contact with that friend 
on the physical plane, then at once that desire will 
cause sorrow. But if they will put aside that desire 
and live in the communion of the higher life, the 
sorrow passes away. 

Sometimes people sorrow when they find old age 
coming upon them, when they find their vehicles not 
so strong as they used to be. They desire the strength 
and the faculties that they once had. It is wise for 
them to repress that desire, to realize that their bodies 
have done good work, and if they cah no longer do 
the same amount as of yore, they should do gently 
and peacefully what they can, but not worry them- 
selves over the change. Presently they will have new 
bodies; and the way to insure a good one is to make 
such use as they can of the old one, but in any case 
to be serene and calm and unruffled. The only way 
to do that is to forget self, to let all selfish desires 
cease, and to turn the thought outward to the helping 
of others as far as one’s capabilities go. 

3. The Ceasing of Sorrow. Already we see how 
sorrow ceases and how calm is to be attained; it is 
by always keeping the thought on the highest things. 
We have still to live in this world, which has been 
poetically described as the sorrowful star—as indeed 
it is for so many, perhaps for most people, though it 
need not be; yet we may live in it quite happily if 
we are not attached to it by desire. We are in it, 


Tue WISDOM IN THE TRIANGLES 307 


but we must not be of it—at least not to such an 
extent as to let it cause worry and trouble and sor- 
row. Undoubtedly our duty is to help others in their 
sorrows and troubles and worries; but in order to 
do that effectively we must have none of our own; 
we must let those ruffles which might cause them slip 
smoothly past us, leaving us calm and contented. If 
we take this lower life with philosophy we shall find 
that for us sorrow almost entirely ceases. 

There may be some who think such an attitude 
unattainable. It is not so, for if it were the Lord 
Buddha would never have prescribed it for us. We 
can all reach it, and we ought to do so, because only 
when we have attained it can we really and effec- 
tively help our brother man. 

4. The Way which leads to the Escape from Sor- 
row. This is given to us in what is called the Noble 
Eightfold Path—another of the Lord Buddha’s won- 
derful tabulations or categories. It is a very beau- 
tiful statement, because it can be taken at all levels. 
The man in the world, even the uneducated man, can 
take it in its lowest aspects and find a way to peace 
and comfort through it. And yet the highest philos- 
opher may also take it and interpret it at his level 
and learn very much from it. 

The first step in this Path is Right Belief. ‘Some 
people object to that qualification, because they say 
it demands from them something in the nature of 
blind faith. It is not at all that sort of belief which 
is required; it is rather a demand for a certain. 


308 Tue MASTERS AND THE PatTH 


amount of knowledge as to the ruling factors in life. 
It demands that we shall understand a little of the 
Divine Scheme as far as it applies to us, and if we 
cannot yet see that for ourselves, that we should ac- 
cept it as it is always put before us. Certain broad 
facts are always put before men in some form or 
other. They are explained even to savage tribes by 
their medicine-men, and to the rest of mankind by 
various religious teachers and in all kinds of scrip- 
tures. It is very true that scriptures and religions 
differ, but the points in which they all agree have to 
be accepted by a man before he can live happily. 
One of these facts is the eternal Law of Cause and 
Effect. If a man lives under the delusion that he can 
do anything that he likes, and that the effect of his 
actions will never recoil upon himself, he will most 
certainly find that some of these actions eventually 
involve him in unhappiness and suffering. If, again, 
he does not understand that the object of his life is 
progress, that God’s Will for him is that he shall grow 
to be something better and nobler than he is now, 
then also he will bring unhappiness and suffering 
upon himself because he will be likely to live for the 
lower side of life only, and that lower side of life 
never finally satisfies the inner man. And so it 
comes about that he must at least know something 
of these great laws of Nature, and if he cannot yet 
know them for himself it will be well for him to 
believe them. Later on, and at a higher level, before 


Tue WISDOM IN THE TRIANGLES 309 


the Second Initiation can be attained, we are told 
that we must kill out all doubt. 

When the Lord Buddha was asked whether this 
meant that we must accept some form of belief 
blindly, He replied: ‘No, but you must know for 
yourself three great things—that only upon the Path 
of Holiness and Good Living can man finally attain 
perfection; that in order to attain it he moves through 
many lives, gradually rising higher and higher; and 
that there is a Law of Eternal Justice under which 
all these things work.” At that stage the man must. 
cast out all doubt, and must be thoroughly and in- 
wardly convinced of these things; but for the man 
of the world it is well that he should at least believe 
that much, because unless he has that as a guide in 
life he cannot get any further. 

The second step of the Noble Eightfold Path is 
Right Thought. Now, Right Thought means two. 
separate things. The first demands that we should 
think about right things and not about wrong things. 
We can have at the back of our minds always high 
and beautiful thoughts, or on the other hand those 
minds may be filled with thoughts of common every- 
day matters. Let there be no mistake here; what- 
ever work we are doing should be done thoroughly 
and earnestly, and with whatever concentration of 
thought upon it is necessary for that perfection. But 
most people, even when their work is done, or when 
there comes a pause in it, still have their thoughts. 


310 Tue MASTERS AND THE PaTH 


running upon unimportant and comparatively ignoble 
things. Those who are devoted to the Master seek 
always to hold the thought of that Master in the back 
of their minds, so that when there is a moment’s res- 
pite from worldly action, at once that thought of Him 
comes forward and occupies the mind. At once the 
pupil thinks: “What can I do to make my life like 
the Master’s? How can I so improve myself that I 
can show forth the beauty of the Lord to those 
around me? What can I do to carry on His work 
of helping other people?” One of the things we can 
all do is to send out helpful and sympathetic thought. 

Remember, also, that right thought must be defi- 
nite and not scattered; thoughts resting for a mo- 
ment on one thing and then flying instantly to some- 
thing else are useless, and will not help us at all in 
learning to manage our thoughts. Right thought 
must never have the slightest touch of evil in it; 
there must be nothing doubtful about it. There are 
many people who would not deliberately think of 
anything impure or horrible, and yet they will cher- 
ish thoughts which are on the brink of that—not 
definitely evil, but certainly a little doubtful. In 
right thought there must be nothing like that; wher- 
ever there is anything which seems in the least sus- 
picious or unkind, it must be shut out. We must be 
quite sure that our thoughts are only kind and good. 

There is another meaning of right thought, and 
that is correct thought—that we should think the 
truth only. So often we think untruly and wrongly 


Tue WISDOM IN THE TRIANGLES 311 


of persons just because of prejudice or ignorance. 
We get an idea that a certain person is a bad person, 
and therefore that all that he does must be evil. We 
attribute motives to him which are often absolutely 
without foundation, and in doing so we are thinking 
untruly of him, and therefore our thought is not right 
thought. All men not yet Adepts have in them some- 
thing of evil as well as something of good; but most 
unfortunately it is our custom to fix all our attention 
on the evil, and to forget all about the good—never 
to look for it at all. Therefore our thought about 
these people is not right thought, not only because 
it is uncharitable, but because it is untrue. We are 
looking only at one side of the person and we ignore 
the other side. Furthermore, by fixing our attention 
on the evil in the man instead of the good, we 
strengthen and encourage that evil; whereas by right 
thought we might give just the same encouragement 
to the good side of that man’s nature. 

The next stage is Right Speech; and here again we 
find just the same two divisions. First, we should 
speak always of good things. It is not our business 
to speak of the evil deeds of others. In most cases 
the stories about other people which reach us are not 
true, and so if we repeat them our words also are 
untrue, and we are doing harm to ourselves as well 
as to the person of whom we speak. And even if the 
story is true it is still wrong to repeat it, for we can 
do no good to the man by saying over and over again 
that he has done wrong; the kindest thing that we 


312 Tue Masters AND THE PatH 


could do would be to say nothing about it. We 
should do that instinctively if the wrong thing were 
done by a husband, a son, a brother; we should cer- 
tainly feel that it would be wrong to advertise the 
misdeed of one whom we loved to many people who 
would not otherwise hear of it. But if there is any 
truth at all in our profession of universal brotherhood 
we should realize that we have no right to circulate 
evil about any man, that we should speak with re- 
gard to others as we should wish them to speak with 
regard to us. Yet again we must remember that 
many people make their speech untrue because they 
allow themselves to fall into exaggeration and in- 
accuracy. They make little things into enormous 
stories; assuredly that is not right speech. 

Again, speech must be kindly; and it must be direct 
and forceful, not silly. A large section of the world 
exists under the delusion that it must make conver- 
sation; that it is odd or rude not to be perpetually 
babbling. The idea seems to be that when one meets 
a friend one must keep talking all the time, or the 
friend will be hurt. Remember that when the Christ 
was on earth He made a very strict statement that 
for every idle word that man should speak he would 
have to account hereafter. The idle word is so often 
a mischievous word; but quite apart from that, even 
innocent idle words involve waste of time; if we must 
talk, at least we might say something useful and 
helpful. Some people with the idea of seeming smart, 
keep up a stream of constant half-joking or sneering 


THE WISDOM IN THE TRIANGLES 313 


talk. They must always be capping something that 
someone else has said. They must always be showing 
everything in a ridiculous or amusing aspect. Cer- 
tainly all that comes under the heading of idle words, 
and there is no doubt that it is seriously necessary 
that we should exercise exceeding care in this matter 
of right speech. 

The next step is Right Action. We see at once 
how these three steps necessarily follow one from 
another. If we think always of good things, we shall 
certainly not speak of evil things, because we speak 
what is in our mind; and if our thought and speech 
are good, then the action which follows will also be 
good. Action must be prompt and yet well consid- 
ered. We all know some people who, when any 
emergency arises, seem to become helpless; they pot- 
ter about and do not know what to do, and they get 
in the way of those who have their brains in better 
working order. Others plunge into some rash action 
without thinking at all. Learn to think quickly and 
act promptly, and yet always with consideration. 
Above all, always let action be unselfish; let it never 
be actuated in the least by personal considerations. 
That is very hard for most people, and yet it is a 
power which must be acquired. We who try to live 
for the Master have many opportunities in our work 
to put that idea into practice. We must all think 
only what is best for the work and what we can do 
to help others, and we must entirely put aside any 
personal considerations. We must not think what 


314. Tuer MASTERS AND THE PatTH 


part in the work we should like to bear, but we must 
try to do the best that we possibly can with the part 
that is assigned to us. 

In these days few people live by themselves as 
monks or hermits used to do. We live among others, 
so that whatever we think or say or do will neces- 
sarily affect a great many people. We should always 
bear in mind that our thought, our speech and our 
action are not merely qualities, but powers—powers 
given to us to use, for the use of which we are 
directly responsible. All are meant to be used for 
service, and to use them otherwise is to fail in our 
duty. ; 

We come now to the fifth step—Right Means of 
Livelihood—and that is a matter which may touch 
quite a large number of us. The Right Means of 
Livelihood is that which causes no harm to any living 
thing. We see at once that that would rule out such 
trades as those of a butcher or a fisherman; but the 
command reaches much further than that. We should 
not obtain our livelihood by harming any creature 
and therefore we see at once that the selling of 
alcohol is not a right means of livelihood. The 
seller of alcohol does not necessarily kill people but 
he is unquestionably doing harm, and he is living 
on the harm he does to the people. 

The idea goes yet further. Take the case of a 
merchant who in the course of his trade is dishonest. 
That is not a right means of livelihood, because his 
trading is not fair and he is cheating the people. 





Tuer WISDOM IN THE TRIANGLES 315 


If a merchant deals fairly, buying his articles whole- 
sale and selling them retail at a reasonable profit, 
that is a right means of livelihood; but the moment 
he begins to mislead people and sells a poor article 
for a good one, he is cheating them. A right means 
of livelihood may become a wrong means if it is 
treated in a wrong way. We must deal as honestly 
with people as we should wish them to deal with us. 
If a person is a trader in a certain class of goods, 
he has special knowledge of those goods. The cus- 
tomer trusts himself in the hands of the trader 
because he himself has not that special knowledge. 
When you trust a doctor or a lawyer, you expect to 
be treated fairly. But it is exactly in the same way 
that the customer comes to the trader, and therefore 
the latter should be as honest with his customer as 
the lawyer or the doctor is with his client or his 
patient. When a man trusts you in that way, he 
puts you on your honor to do your best for him. 
You have a right to make a reasonable profit in the 
course of your bargain, but you must also look to 
your duty. 

The sixth step is Right Exertion or Right En- 
deavor, and it is a very important one. We must 
not be content to be negatively good. What is de- 
sired of us is not merely absence of evil, but the 
positive doing of good. When the Lord Buddha made 
that wonderful short statement of His doctrine in a 
single verse, He began by saying, “Cease to do evil,” 
but the next line runs, ‘Learn to do good.” It is 


316 THE MASTERS AND THE PaTH 


not enough to be passively good. There are so many 
well-meaning people who yet achieve nothing. 

Every person has a certain amount of strength, not 
only physical, but mental. When we have a day’s 
work before us, we know that we must reserve our 
strength for that, and therefore before we begin it 
we do not undertake something else which would so 
exhaust us as that the day’s work could not be prop- 
erly done. Similarly we have a certain amount of 
strength of mind and of will, and we can perform 
only a certain amount of work on that level; there- 
fore we must take care how we spend that power. 
There are other powers too. Every person has a 
certain amount of influence among his friends and 
relations. That influence means power, and we are 
responsible for making good use of that power. All 
about us are children, relations, employes, servants, 
and over all of these we have a certain amount of 
influence, at least by example; we must be careful 
what we do and what we say, because others will 
copy us. 

Right Exertion means putting our work into useful 
lines and not wasting it. There are many things that 
can be done, but some of them are immediate and 
more urgent than others. We must look about and 
see where our exertion would be most useful. It is 
not well that all should do the same thing; it is wiser 
that the work should be divided among us so that it 
may be perfectly rounded off and not left in a one- 


Tur WISDOM IN THE TRIANGLES 317 


sided condition. In all these matters we must use 
our reason and common sense. 

Right Memory or Right Remembrance is the sev- 
enth step, and it means many things. The Right 
Memory of which the Lord Buddha spoke has often 
been taken by His followers to mean the memory of 
past incarnations, which He Himself possessed most 
fully. In one of the Jataka stories, a person spoke 
ill of Him. He turned to His disciples and said: ‘TI 
have insulted this man in a previous life, and there- 
fore he speaks ill of me now; I have no right to 
resent it.”’ No doubt if we remembered everything 
that had happened to us before, we could arrange 
our present life better than we do. Most of us, how- 
ever, have not the power of remembering our past 
lives; but we must not therefore think that the 
teaching as to Right Memory does not apply to us. 

First of all it means self-recollectedness. It means 
that we must remember all the time who we are, 
what our work is, what is our duty, and what we 
should be doing for the Master. Then again Right 
Memory means the exercise of a reasonable choice 
as to what we shall remember. To all of us in our 
lives there come pleasant things, and also things un- 
pleasant. A wise person will take care to remember 
the good things, but he will let the evil die. Suppose 
someone comes and speaks rudely to us; a foolish 
person will remember that for weeks, months and 
years, and will continue to say that such-and-such 


318 Tue MASTERS AND THE PATH 


a person spoke unkindly to him. It will rankle in 
his mind. But what good will that do him? Ob- 
viously, none at all; it will only annoy him and keep 
alive in his mind an evil thought. That certainly 
is not Right Memory. We should forget and forgive 
then and there an evil thing done to us; but we 
should always bear in mind the kindnesses that 
people have done us, because they will fill our minds 
with love and with gratitude. Again, we have all 
made many mistakes; it is well that we should re- 
member them in so far as not to repeat them; but 
otherwise, to brood over them, to be always filling 
our minds with regret and with sorrow because of 
them, is not Right Memory. 

The last step is called Right Meditation or Right 
Concentration. This refers not only to the set medi- 
tation which we perform as part of our discipline, but 
it also means that all through our lives we should 
concentrate ourselves on the object of doing good and 
of being useful and helpful. In daily life we cannot 
be always meditating, because of the daily work that 
we must all do in the course of our ordinary lives; 
and yet I am not sure that a statement like that, 
made without reservation, is entirely true. We can- 
not always have our consciousness drawn away from 
the physical plane to higher levels; yet it is possible 
to live a life of meditation in this sense—that the 
higher things are always so strongly present in the 
background of our minds that, as I said when 
speaking about Right Thought, they may instantly 


Tue WISDOM IN THE TRIANGLES 319 


come to the front when that mind is not otherwise 
occupied. Our life will then be really a life of per- 
petual meditation upon the highest and noblest ob- 
jects, interrupted now and then by the necessity of 
putting our thoughts into practice in daily life. 

Such a habit of thought will influence us in more 
ways than we see at the first glance. Like always 
attracts like; two people who adopt such a line of 
thought will presently be drawn together, will feel 
an attraction one for the other; and so it may well 
be that in time a nucleus of those who habitually 
hold the higher thought will be gathered together, 
and will gradually develop, perhaps into a Theo- 
sophical Lodge; at any rate, they will draw together, 
their thoughts will react upon one another and in 
that way each will greatly help the advancement of 
the rest. Again, wherever we go we are surrounded 
by invisible hosts, Angels, nature-spirits, and men 
who have laid aside their physical bodies. The con- 
dition of Right Concentration will attract to us all 
the best of those various orders of beings, so that 
wherever we go we shall be surrounded by good and 
holy influences. 

This is the teaching of the Lord Buddha as He 
gave it in that first Sermon; it is upon this teaching 
that the world-wide Kingdom of Righteousness is 
founded, the Royal Chariot-Wheels of which He set 
in motion for the first time on that Asala Festival 
so many centuries ago. 

_ When in the far future the time shall come for the 


320 Tue MASTERS AND THE PatTH 


advent of another Buddha, and the present Bodhi- 
sattva takes that final incarnation in which the great 
step will be achieved, He will preach the Divine Law 
to the world in whatever form may seem to Him most 
suited to the requirements of that era, and then will 
follow Him in His high office the Master Kuthumi, 
Who has transferred Himself to the Second Ray to 
take the responsibility of becoming the Bodhisattva 
of the sixth root-race. 


CHAPTER XV 
THE POWER IN THE TRIANGLES 


Our world is governed by a Spiritual King—one 
of the Lords of the Flame Who came long ago from 
Venus. He is called by the Hindus, Sanat Kumara, 
the last word being a title meaning Prince or Ruler. 
He is often spoken of as the One Initiator, the One 
without a Second, the Eternal Youth of Sixteen Sum- 
mers; and sometimes He is called the Lord of the 
World. He is the Supreme Ruler; in His hand and 
within His actual aura lies the whole of His planet. 
He represents the Logos, as far as this world is con- 
cerned, and directs the whole of its evolution—not 
that of humanity alone, but also the evolution of the 
Devas, the nature-spirits, and all other creatures 
connected with the earth. He 1s, of course, entirely 
distinct from the great Entity called the Spirit of the 
Earth, who uses our world as a physical body. 

In His mind He holds the whole plan of evolution 
at some high level of which we know nothing; He is 
the force which drives the whole world-machine, the 
embodiment of the Divine Will on this planet, and 
strength, courage, decision, perseverance and all 
similar characteristics, when they show themselves 
down here in the lives of men, are reflections from 


322 Tue MASTERS AND THE PatH 


Him. His consciousness is of so extended a nature 
that it comprehends at once all the life on our globe. 
In His hands are the powers of cyclic destruction, 
for He wields Fohat in its higher forms and can deal 
directly with cosmic forces outside our chain. His 
work is probably usually connected with humanity 
en masse rather than with individuals, but when He 
does influence any single person we are told that it 
is through the Atma and not through the Ego that 
His influence is brought to bear. 

At a certain point in the progress of an aspirant 
on the Path he is formally presented to the Lord of 
the World, and those who have thus met Him face 
to face speak of Him as in appearance a handsome 
youth, dignified, benignant beyond all description, 
yet with a mien of omniscient, inscrutable majesty 
conveying such a sense of resistless power that some 
have found themselves unable to bear His gaze, and 
have veiled their faces in awe. Thus, for example, 
did our great Founder, Madame Blavatsky. One 
who has had this experience can never forget it, nor 
ean he ever thereafter doubt that, however terrible 
the sin and sorrow on earth may be, all things are 
somehow working together for the eventual good of 
all, and humanity is being steadily guided towards 
its final goal. 

During each world-period, we are told, there are 
three successive Lords of the World, and the present 
holder of the office is already the third. He resides 
with His three pupils in an oasis in the Gobi desert 





THE PoWER IN THE TRIANGLES 323 


called Shamballa, often spoken of as the sacred 
island, in remembrance of the time when it was an 
island in the Central Asian Sea. These four greatest 
of the Adepts are often called “The Children of the 
Fire Mist,” since They belong to an evolution dif- 
ferent from ours. Their bodies, though human in ap- 
pearance, differ widely from ours in constitution, 
being rather garments assumed for convenience than 
bodies in the ordinary sense, since they are artificial 
and their particles do not change as do those of the 
human frame. They require no nourishment and 
remain unchanged through thousands of years. 

The Three Pupils, Who stand at the level of the 
Buddha, and are called Pratyeka or Pachcheka 
Buddhas, assist the Lord in His work, and are Them- 
selves destined to be our three Lords of the World 
when humanity is occupying the planet Mercury. 

Once in every seven years the Lord of the World 
conducts at Shamballa a great ceremony somewhat 
similar to the Wesak event, but on a still grander 
scale and of a different type, when all the Adepts and 
even some Initiates below that grade are invited, and 
have thus an opportunity to come into touch with 
Their great Leader. At other times He deals only 
with the Heads of the Official Hierarchy, except when 
for special reasons He summons others to His 
presence. 

The exalted position of this, our Spiritual King, 
has been described in The Secret Doctrine. It is 
there stated that as the ages pass the great steps 


324 THe MASTERS AND THE PatHu 


which we now recognize as leading to perfection will 
remain unchanged as to their relative positions, 
though the system of things as a whole is moving 
upwards, and thus the actual attainments which in 
the remote future will mark a particular step will 
be far fuller than they are at present. The Perfected 
Men of the Seventh Round of our Chain will be, it 
is said, “but one remove from the Root-Base of 
their Hierarchy, the highest on Earth and our Ter- 
restrial Chain.” That is to say, the King stands even 
now one stage beyond the point to which only ages 
of evolution will bring the Perfected Men of our 
humanity—ages that must run into millions of years, 
taking us through two and a half rounds of varied 
experience. This Wondrous Being came during the 
Third Race period to take charge of the Earth evo- 
lution. That coming of the World’s future King is 
thus described in Man: Whence, How and Whither: 


The great Lemurian Polar Star was still perfect, and the 
huge Crescent still stretched along the equator, including 
Madagascar. The sea which occupied what is now the Gobi 
Desert still broke against the rocky barriers of the northern 
Himalayan slopes, and all was being prepared for the most 
dramatic moment in the history of the Earth—the Coming 
of the Lords of the Flame. 

The Lords of the Moon and the Manu of the third Root- 
Race had done all that was possible to bring men up to the 
point at which the germ of mind could be quickened, and the 
descent of the ego could be made. All the laggards had 
been pushed on; there were no more in the animal ranks 
capable of rising into man. The door against: further immi- 
grants into the human kingdom from the animal was only 
shut when no more were in sight, nor would be capable of 
reaching it without a repetition of the tremendous impulse 


se 


Tue Power IN THE TRIANGLES 325 


only given once in the evolution of a Scheme, at its midmost 
point. 

A great astrological event, when a very special collocation 
of planets occurred and the magnetic condition of the Earth 
was the most favorable possible, was chosen as the time. It 
was about six and a half million years ago. Nothing more 
remained to be done, save what only They could do. 

Then, with the mighty roar of swift descent: from incal- 
culable heights, surrounded by blazing masses of fire which 
filled the sky with shooting tongues of flame, flashed through 
the erial spaces the chariot of the Sons of the Fire, the 
Lords of the Flame from Venus; it halted, hovering over 
the “White Island,” which lay smiling in the bosom of the 
Gobi Sea; green was it, and radiant with masses of fragrant 
many-colored blossoms, Earth offering her best and fairest 
to welcome her coming King. There He stood, “the Youth 
of sixteen summers,” Sanat Kumara, the “Eternal Virgin- 
Youth,” the new Ruler of Earth, come to His kingdom, His 
Pupils, the three Kumaras, with Him, His Helpers around 
Him; thirty mighty Beings were there, great beyond Earth’s 
reckoning, though in graded order, clothed in the glorious 
bodies They had created by Kriyashakti, the first Occult 
Hierarchy, branches of the one spreading Banyan-Tree, the 
nursery of future Adepts, the center of all occult life. Their 
dwelling-place was and is the Imperishable Sacred Land, on 
which ever shines down the Blazing Star, the symbol of 
Earth’s Monarch, the changeless Pole round which the life 
of our Earth is ever spinning. 


Of the Lord of the World, The Secret Doctrine 
Says: 


The “Being” just referred to, who has to remain nameless, 
is the Tree from which, in subsequent ages, all the great 
historically known Sages and Hierophants, such as the Rishi 
Kapila, Hermes, Enoch, Orpheus, etc., have branched off. As 
objective man, he is the mysterious (to the profane—the 
ever invisible, yet ever present) Personage, about whom 
legends are rife in the East, especially among the Occultists 
and the students of the Sacred Science. It is He who changes 
form, yet remains ever the same. And it is He, again, who 
holds spiritual sway over the initiated Adepts throughout the 
whole world. He is, as said, the “Nameless One” who has 


326 THe MASTERS AND THE PaTH 


so many names, and yet whose names and whose very nature 
are unknown. He is the “Initiator,” called the “Great Sac- 
rifice.” For, sitting at the Threshold of Light, He looks into 
it from within the Circle of Darkness, which He will not 
cross; nor will He quit His post: till the last Day of this Life- 
Cycle. Why does the Solitary Watcher remain at His self- 
chosen post? Why does He sit by the Fountain of Primeval 
Wisdom, of which He drinks no longer, for He has naught 
to learn which He does not know—aye, neither on this Earth, 
nor in its Heaven? Because the lonely sore-footed Pilgrims, 
on their journey back to their Home, are never sure, to the 
last moment, of not losing their way, in this limitless desert 
of Illusion and Matter called Earth-Life. Because He would 
fain show the way to that region of freedom and light, from 
which He is a voluntary exile Himself, to every prisoner 
who has succeeded in liberating himself from the bonds of 
flesh and illusion. Because, in short, He has sacrificed Him- 
self for the sake of Mankind, though but a few elect may 
profit by the Great Sacrifice. 


It is under the direct, silent guidance of this Maha-Guru 
that all the other less divine Teachers and Instructors of 
Mankind became, from the first awakening of human con- 
sciousness, the guides of early Humanity. It is through these 
“Sons of God” that infant Humanity learned its first notions 
of all the arts and sciences, as well as of spiritual knowledge; 
and it is They who laid the first foundation-stone of those 
ancient civilizations that so sorely puzzle our modern gener- 
ation of students and scholars. 


It is on the First Ray that the greatest progress 
for man is possible within the Hierarchy of our 
Globe, for there are on it two Initiations beyond that 
of the Manu. The Pachcheka Buddhas, Who stand 
next above the Manu, have been strangely misunder- 
stood by some writers who have described Them as 
the selfish ones Who refused to teach what They 
have learned, and passed away into Nirvana. It is 
true that these Buddhas do not teach, for They have 
the other work of Their own Ray to do, and true also 


THE PoweER IN THE TRIANGLES 327 


that a time comes when They will leave the world, 
but only to carry on Their glorious work elsewhere. 

The next step, the Initiation that none can give, 
but each must take for Himself, puts the Adept on 
the level of the Lord of the World, an Office which 
is held first for the shorter period of a First or Sec- 
ond Lord on one World, and when that has been 
achieved, for the longer responsibility of the Third 
upon some other. 

The task of the Third Lord of the World is far 
greater than that of the First and Second Lord, be- 
cause it is His duty to round off satisfactorily that 
period of evolution, and to deliver over the countless 
millions of evolving creatures into the hands of the 
Seed-Manu, Who will be responsible for them during 
the inter-planetary Nirvana, and will hand them over 
in turn to the Root-Manu of the next globe. The 
Third Lord of the World, having fulfilled this duty, 
takes another Initiation entirely outside of our world 
and its Hierarchy, and attains the level of the Silent 
Watcher. In that capacity He remains on guard for 
the whole period of a Round, and it is only when the 
life-wave has again occupied our planet and is again 
ready to leave it that He abandons His strange self- 
imposed task, and hands it over to His Successor. 

Far above us as is all the splendor of these great 
heights at present, it is worth our while to lift our 
thought towards them and try to realize them a little. 
They show the goal before every one of us, and the 
clearer our sight of it the swifter and steadier will 


328 Tue MASTERS AND THE PaTtH 


be our progress towards it, though we may not all 
hope to fulfill the ancient ideal in this, and fly as an 
arrow to the mark. 

In the course of this great progress every man will 
some day reach full consciousness on the highest of 
our planes, the Divine plane, and be conscious simul- 
taneously at all levels of this Prakritic Cosmic plane, 
so that having in Himself the power of the highest, 
He shall yet be able to comprehend and function on 
the very lowest, and help where help is needed. That 
omnipotence and omnipresence surely await every 
one of us, and though this lower life may not be 
worth living for anything that we may gain from it 
for ourselves, yet it is magnificently worth enduring 
as a necessary stage for the true life that lies before 
us. “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath 
it entered into the heart of man to conceive the things 
which God hath prepared for them that love Him,” 
for the love of God, the wisdom of God, the power of 
God, and the glory of God pass all understanding, 
even as does His peace. 


PEACE TO ALL BEINGS 





a 


. 


Ab an 
AY aie | Na pee 
cay Aah eh) 
nT 


eh 
vt i 1) 
sa 


M4 ei 1S if ah 
Ne © eas 4 
MUN haat 
i 





eee ee LL eS ee ee ee 


PAGE 

A DAGIULE AL Dee LTINIGY y OF) ieteiesyreisicte aeiarsielow o's stalMaMeagnarealy(s 266 
PEPE OLATICOI Ss Vem clay Gosia wanes anole BW ciel or hhalejene abel mietinrs aterate 97-111 
Bye (Masterr ores. pupils oor ees hehe resi a eerie ne 70 
AGCOUTETOLAAIN TUT SOU ee ae. Minors & cea els nie a pavenn Ure Mele 97-99 

PRE CRITA CYT A556 5 sip alan al o Coe obs e tn DIRE TAN SINE eel rate SU ROR abe a te 94 
ARTs) Vo 260-4 1 aoe Ere eS AM Weg i Mibid Peed 313, 314 
MAUL ESOPALD EL ITIVCI; sha: S «90d Ste oh, Sod ie Sata cba oy aber: NAC RRTR UPR Ria 252 
depts (see also. Masters): js 6)c.isied ig noise eo ieleralpiete 3, 17, 19, 20 
Physical characteristics of... ...2.. .40nltan eee oe eae 21, 22 

As lieutenants of World-Teacher ................... 41 
Health a necessity for ie A ae ee oe 41 
Freedom) from) karma chsh Aue a a, pie 42 
Piysival (bodies vol ie isa,| eee rah ee 42, 43, 46, 47 
epg CTE CAND Jy) eet Cat a en FP 49, 50, 104, 2038, 204, 211 
PVE ORY POL eR ORL CLT aT TAI IN nat nee A a 58 
Requirements: of childhood of oo... als eis eel apalele 77 
RPUTAIECTOS NO Letter tcteh tiiyey 5s 2bu oa 4 mtae tepae  bR RRR eines RE 253 
PAWLOTIRGIIIS iret sere Ome eh aie isl si o swe se are eee Oe 17, 127, 204, 205 
PTE CULOTA iis uleiavc emer eae roy: os) £5; Ss acuie’ oR ape neaene Ca 82, 191 
PRICY ONES ovis ch emer Seeds Oe Sal SRA cece Ga 56 
Altar stone in Wesak Valley ........... He Sen Be 285, 286, 288 
mn wien, MEelpiilness® Ole. os... . 5 R le ete ae Seek alee 111 
PTL SPRNI IT ay Shatin ce W nce v's) 9) ogi ab bos Aah PRR eRe EF ies rE 188, 190 
nana. Love for aoords Buddha \i.5: dee ie ene euiu sal 191 
PR TIALIMCU Runt sep RG PASE beds toCR at nha Jal ac a. 0. toz esd RAS ARM eS aR RUC AOL Se CAA 67 
ATR OUNOL STAG UE TESONCE Yd Pike ais in oid balance HOUR ea eR ee rie 239 
ARDEA OT OAN: ainda o's 6 Scab SURE ee Oe 146, 212 
PAVE OE et) til ks Weare Page ee Nb URI at a 24 
PAB ol ase ote ei ik oe Shs OR gens, Been cee 14 
TILA RICHI Gee Wet Sn Li. See aah CR en ae es nebo hc 156 
PRTG aa SO OU ana es rere Se Ma nein Recaro Ne 119 
PPD WOT CL VAN Bolsa’ wii take eae eel Poet eee 250, 251 
Archangels, Names and work of ...................-. 240, 241 


PAGE 
ATH at A ee UG e eno ai aan scoala yc eae iat oy een a 192, 205 
CAUSAL HOD Wi COT at he lew ie esa ogni wiles eietelere er ie ana ater ena 22 
CONSCIGUSIESS TOTTI aicais tan i@eannisl cis ates cate ree erie 198 
NWOT OT! (30m Ge tres sien cS ate abated in ok watt etal suke sie) eee 202 
Tritiabi om yarccrs cris ate eek let Seal eee ae cule ae ee ec 298 
IATHAtS Ip We rae, aan et Baron re tenet tre teal a pent See 187, 298 
Artists,stheir Rayvinite scp cect isn Matric trad aan ceed 249 
Arura “Devaan Sons sairadraure eam stored tenet amet orale eee te 158 
Aruparaga, Seventh itetter jaunts sre wails vianete 203 
‘Aryan (Race, Qualities Ofc. sneer ae ciara corre rea 76, 224 
ATV ASAD Sa Ge ey Se rise Om ie ates a cies weaken nineteen ee 296 
Asala:sGeremnOly.th o') aside vd ore ooo oie tay Ole MPMI ea on 299, 301, 319 
ASCENSION, “SyYMPOLISM. 1OL wsi0.0:4 <u'sis bias Slee le se oe 204 
A sek Tay Ys es 2e) clad Seolte Gite odie wonton onc ane 2 An nee a 203 
Aspirants 
Impossibility (or OVerlooking vee ee cee a cow enes 61, 62, 96 
Astral and: mental bodies (Gf oc)... s\sla.<cscs siete ene ee 66 
Assyrian teaching of the Trinity ..................4. 265, 266 
ASAT DOGG VAN WR Voce berate eR Wl seh Bebra 16, 66 
Image.‘of):probationer ius. ooh Bee ee eee eee 69 
Effects of irritation ys S0eine.& cee eee Wk ee 87, 88, 90 
In- relation; to. laughter! /.'s.);.)/ ake ue eee 92 
Effect. ofi First Initiation/ upon -.3ie0. eas. eee 138 
Astral counterparts of physical objects ................. 173 
AStral aplane Pade) the Cee Se ia. one ae 173, 220 
Astral witnesses of Second Initiation ........... 177, 178, 179 
Address. tii Peta Vic toe Sip reine eee 184 
PREPOIORY isa Veins dlcatas aie a Kee PRETO tie cies © ataie rk eee 240 
AthanasianuCreed, “The |\.cacnggrea +s os coc te ls eee 274 
Atlantean Race) cicicecticl Later cee. < wale cheat ee eee 224 
Atlantis, Predominance of Seventh Ray in ............. 256 
Atoms; i Permanent?...3:0 3.5 eeeee ee 6 Ue ae 138, 208 
At the Feet of the Master ........ 53, 54, 55, 56, 118, 143, 180 
ATO OETIES 5.4 OCs Lak alee ARERR eh cic eal eoe ee 22, 40, 189 
ANITA. aii le tahpue cide ole ee aI rane eae 31, 75, 76, 84, 98, 99, 100 
PWC Ee beaten i ee re. 195, 196 
Avajja,.Lenth, fetter: .,5\.).cneus oss ss Yeeeah e ae Gee 203 
Bacon, \Francigy icity. os beablode is oleae eee 251 
Bacon, Roger, ()s.65 ais cee oe a ee 251 
Baptism of Christ, Symbology of ............... 186, 187, 196 
Beauty, characteristic of Fourth Ray ................... 253 


BaliogRight ui uk LRN en cr i i aearen 307, 308, 309 


INDEX son 


PAGE 
Henares, s18 Becencer. OF TOLCE 7. ius ors sisi bie, eres oshe's ae 216, 217 
Besant. DrwAnnies \ weak dais seek t 6, 10, 34, 56, 59, 96, 225 
POCA MERINO GOL Be ako is ies als niu ie Fale ace ae aeons 240 
PROUD Ar LOE THEN clea pale bs Ae sdele ¥'< ole ee pera a 254, 296 
PRB CG Yee ULM aaretoN Bate PALEY oe deck cnep a elsvniobon ae avocet oy ahelnyedatalecohl it 250 
LETT AAAS hlakal 8 Aidit aia afte A ans ns SON AN aloud 172 
Diplert Nvistian.. LHGOSODH Yr IN i. 8's. i\es)4 vi «e's Saree ae 115, 116 
Blavatsky, Madatne: Hat Piet itis bY ee aes See 
MET: UR rewle nies ete 6, 7, 9, 24, 25, 34, 35, 45, 46, 58, 222, 322 
pecefeVil ict Uh aig. Nar AAR aM rae Rei mam BA ALR Co Rrt Loe EE Sapte iry tees 206 
Representative» of. Second. Ray, i..sidss ve hive <guibes 233 
VROriW OL w cae siiite bce Ne A Oe ee See 269 
Ag earti ore nea venly Many at ahaha eaten iain 269 
Expression of Second Person of Logos ...... 273, 274, 275 
Representative of Buddha of the Race ............. 276 
WSOC STA LLUIMAN, > AS 3.9.» LLANSIIT LED vaya Wice clestetonsleveian eters 105 
POSTINGS JACOB i\eiys. oe 2 ptk estes shel ears unpaid MADAM an ee ee 257 
Boome Dzyan.. Original (ob .hsitsaciaslaa s nele sedans la eee 24 
ERRAND RNY RSs i lds oxcovs..siapcoin cttsta Ata Dae a tee at at ae NeET SiR he Pa 261 
Brahmarandravchakra \2ti co ot. hehe Nadi ese ead Rat ae 294 
Bnttanvacyatiure-spirits: Of, 4 asic d desla oS aacawe Wacieiae oan 250 
Brocherhoodial humanityi. 2. Quis) ee se, “oes wae 277 
BrOUDernGOd « OL ATEMIPIONS: wlaieiy. siceasGcdo eal lente ite tae 226 
RUMI IVA TOA VY cei haves gcde ln'n ssles es Gots Pale een eae Wea eer ae 7 
PeUICAN EIT HARAAOT eens aii ats nieuwe So ikke eee 45, 271, 298 
Pine Kasvapanew nd Pekar be JRA eh eee eee 276 
Buddha, Lord Gautama ..... 5, 45, 139, 163, 202, 204, 276, 299 
SSETECLICLION CO Rmeu ieee Bhs iad) ssw leje C ARR aR amas Caner 137 
UNITES EP LTELE G's io... « oad aa ok abate ea te ee 140 
Presence, at’ Second : Initiation. «0025. og shb ei aee 175 
Lovecvfory Anaiaageins vc oo eee oe 191 
Proclamationsots, Ereedom |... ...<)aeesMenadeneeh Soe 198 
PTCA Of ECON A AY |... ... a's o:s\cahantneeeee 233, 247, oa 
Reflection of Second Aspect of Logos ............... 267 
PApnG OL Rei Viens. 0s.) hee hs eae 268 
BYECECESIO TE OTANI tii. a5. 4.0 cscs idinardy atte oie eaters 276, 293 
PCAN ATION COL cis oak sho sb AR ee We ae eh 279 
Bari dOle ns. < tive ce Loe VaR eta: 277, 278, 279, 281 
Return to the world each year ................. 281, 282 
Appearance at Wesak Festival ............. 289, 291, 292 
Fourths Buddhas: of this world: »: ssasies «> Moueebee oa 294 
PAPE ST OL aisich potatoes ie «iD 4ie trae Wa acne ehede Cams es ae 298 


Srentneermon Of 5. kee ie Pol a, ood RS aba 300-319 


334 INDEX 


PAGE 
Buddhas 
Appearance of during a world period .. 276, 277, 293, 294 
Buddhas)! |Fachehekar os) ats ids scaein.c ute elite state orn erent 323, 326 
Buddhas Pratyelce wie cir aio sk ss wlan aie pRe Esha a aealede cata nn 323 
Budd his ides wwe eis ween veb ee etalon ettiele aig alec ea fend ot aiaterahe 190 
Budd bie: CONSCIOUSMEHE iy sholsleseiscpiaten se overs mumbo nies a eae 124, 166, 167 
Buddhie) Exercises s/s uae wa vols Mead eee ee bs ueeielan 139, 141 
Buddhiec plane, Work of Adepts on the ................. 49 
Pe Uara od shields GSR BeOS AES DROS, Me etal a Ve (al SE 4 Fate at Mert 259, 260, 261 
Northern, Teaching of Trinity in .............. 265, 266 
Buddhists M OVS iis iiss, sec the oA RRRMON ete oh of ofeach eaeonehe sie me 32 
Burma, Budd hisny iin years aerate tare oleae eas een 260, 261 
Causal body .......... 15, 22, 49, 69, 138, 157, 158, 166, 183, 208 
Cause and Effect, Law NSIS NM rrr te i | 308 
Ceremonial iyi sie eigeic nelle Mbt enna ita sh haba atey wee 263, 264 
Ceremonies) of) religions iyi cakes aid oie oes arsscie cney ee tae 215 
ere Girne alee ade ella teheioys to abies eee OIA ee bs ene Te 253 
Ceremony conducted at Shamballa ..... eis o Sundelntic inet aA 323 
Ceylon; Buddhism ina ictas adie Cie arate 2 ele ee arene 261 
COMBI) 6 eae ist sa cial lalvcnllniavee, anellc starer diel arate eenG eee en eae 241 
Chatta, Verses taught by Lord Buddha to .............. 289 
Chelas 
Effecti‘onof-being :with iguru)/ ei. Ol eek es eee 95, 96 
A CREPUAILCE A845) «4 ahs bccsma clei palais a ie ole east nee a ena 9 
Presentation of to Maha-Chohan ................... 99 
Children sof; the) Fire : Mist 4h eas a eae, oe 323 
Children) On Propation see veer nai x ticles aa ean 72, 73, 74, mn 
CO a ye a sy SNR naar! ESR es le 
Ghohansand Their; Rays.) gates . Se ae ee ee 
Christ, The (see also Maitreya, Lord) .................. 5 
Lafemobic cis, Wale vel seca earns, © UL eS aa 17 
CJUOCALAONS MON Cui sale carp eetet ide -scecue eee ele 89, 93, 127 
Consciousness, | birth iofie nei s)he Ae sie ee ee 124 
Expression of Second Person of Logos .. 127, 273, 274, 275 
Temptations Afi ic. c/s kee Mwlewins vice te: dele, ae eneere ean 186 
symbology .ofibirth, ofi'ee vena; + scan fae eee 187, 196 
Symbology of Transfiguration of ........... 188, 189, 190 
Love tforySt. Johny ..5 ee Rae ieee ees 191 
Symbology of Crucifixion and Resurrection of ...... 193 
In (Palestine io iio ee oa Blt ee Ree ieee ae 295 
Christ-Drama, The 
Relation of to Fourth Initiation ........... 193, 194, 196 


PAGE 

CPP LRISAN OPEC TATE Vacate eae ata Taha ie) ahdas Whe so laitain brid hiebaca eines 152 
CINTIGUIATI Vawsee CeO Uae ierneclcie ae Ug Rrele cis wal 256, 257, 258 

PROUT CU TIDUIGY (AN s/c ee oh « Shastenes idle elanelaterntiny 265, 266 
MATE UU SHARPE AUMCE Bch Msttelas tol Alas all Bees ie aeilel oie po beae'lati eh nib ae iol ag 126 
Cities POR AANTMOUILY INOCEIS) OL) ia.4 oleie) ilassa ie nyeieoiece ts le algae 24 
SO IVE SETAE VU Mihtairs (a sohs lh hile atin te Rt aD wd d Sota a N's een eta retm a etaT pe 263 
Comminion, Of oainten Phe A 8) in Qecwide Meu bmeraienes 120 
Wommiunity,s sixth Root-Rdces ss vale edanea 230, 231 
Comte de St. Germain (see Ragoczy, Prince) 

Meeting with C: W. Leadbeater .......0..00000..08- 8 

PHVSICAL AD DCATANCEN OL WA's hue sesulein's bbls braketmunenedans aby 38, 39 

As Representative of Seventh Ray ................. 251 

FS A INO UEE ee chteieee U kenanaene es ctatio dew u\ote Sloe sb Natit Sian eemenE 252 
Conceit as a hindrance to spiritual growth ............ 64, 65 
SOT CeN Patong AiG 7 wists sie ala ae eee ree rn CS ane ehwUS CHORD 318, 319 
PON ete GROOi | byes Krome nin ache eam ete ater Cie (uaa 54, 118 
MOOT SANCTUS dul chelate 'alaia y Sia ae bee ete Oak Beh MOTTO Rhakh cit Bmelaie) Maia 295 
Consciousness 

DOE ATIGLOTIO LS | Y idiaia cid la Buel caanaatata wie ohctena betta ES Qtek 124 

Star of, representative of monad ............... 187,.155 

BURT tn atte bare arate Hot ee eee ea ta te die Mea RNs (2M 167, 168 

PUITVATIIC I ies vite POR ee IR, Hee OREN bi 198, 215 

CPSSTTON Heth te oie Ma bahe wala “ole AMA oak hee ee, Shes aE Sa INR 201 
EEO PETA TION iy bth Ciisterahars iva wislaialaty Goa eie ea RUT tetteat Rad et 84 
Paaperakiey aM es se oN este ote Chetan ae Re UG eae 235 
Wauisel solr Peviegtiomitret We. do Pa a Oe ete ene Na 86 
Counterparts rofuphysical: objects. sijciiie's okies bltiete pathol 173 
Crucifixion and Resurrection of Christ 

BSVUIOLOS Vihar eh sikls ic besa: vot valalaie Sine Rave ota 193, 197, 296 
Cruelty sin -oftovenidren’. 2 .'o P20 er vine swaas 44, 75, 76, 77 
Curiosity as a hindrance to spiritual growth ............ 64 
DIAKMIUBARINULE ME NTONG Of. sc-.s0 se cd ee ee ae 129 
TDA fale stare Satsivtcta tebe Sobita eh o'n'n io r'o a's ate Uke 6 SANE RMN EReL IS eR 118 
POAVUAR ETOLERSOT) PVE. fay dss selec o's Sneed alte 290, 291, 299 
MIAME OL WUGEMEDE, WE AGe os ica/e a sratcraleicda de eterna tele eee as 127 
DesGrntate’ Dei, Quotation frome: 6285022) Sa ak 296 
POPLMMONUOL SOLE sees she shee e eee eos Ma ta Lhe Gea, SNM 169 
RIA VORRION A See A clatch sls iatete's) alae o Sle eR IA ORO Eee aha eee 89 
TAORIPCLESSTIOHGN A te Sk chedcho sasha ty sichaie ei abehalea ate tate tube elated 54, 117 
PAV GSOILION GPa ers Sit phan dichh oad cate See Ea 297 
POMP R IE) t ibe ARUN SLO A is OSE era EN 11, 215, 237, 261 

POM FON fy ae SR ea oo a ELSIE Pe ee 31, 130 


336 INDEX 


PAGE 
Devil, Symbolism: of:in. Gospel) story ..00. . 4.0505. sae 187 
Devotion 
Résponse ‘to: by, thewMaster. i... vir steel. ha stage 102, 103 
Valivel Ofer terion Oh ie We Loi fatale Bree et Oe caer ana 216 
Rayi OL RAW otis ices atetece's Ct SEP Reis electra fae, Mea ae 250 
Gharacteristict Orv Sixth Ra yy keeles win n s eine 253 
DhammachakkappavattanaSutta 2000 coq c. soe. ba ees 299 
Dharma, deal). of “Hinduism 2) ieee ciate chet teu ain eels 258 
Dharmaksya:| vestune Wh eset er ee be oe enc ke ene 208 
Dhruvas:' Master isd soda Cee eens le parr tae ee 272 
Dhar Ghahang ye. ciek sieitissias ae a een 200, 206, 234, 239 
Dhyaniy. Buddha 3, Park Gee as ec lekee) tae eee 280 
Diagrams 
Illustrating influence of religions ................... 23 
Tilistrating?migrationa [ol races)... 5 saueee sent eee 23 
No. 1—Centennial effort of Brotherhood ............ 222 
No. 2—Rays and their characteristics ............... 236 
Nono--Rays of Jewels. a. os op a. aiers slap ee 243 
No. 4—Trinity of the Logos .......... PTA ee Ee Nh 265 
No.) 5—-Three- Aspects, of the \L0g0s i ves crciy sie ee 267 
No. 6—Triangle administering power of Logos ...... 268 
No. 7—Initiations attainable upon each Ray ........ 270 
No. 8— Lhe Wesak | Valley gis oe cis eas Wie ee redeem 284 
Nov9-—The Rod: of) Powetwe cu) .isaclseesls soe ace Meliaeeene 287 
No. 10—Symbolic figures of Great White Brotherhood 
during » Wesak tMestivali. a: ..c0ttauset dealer 288 
TVISCID LG aus chats sche chic aoe Sick wesw RAR RMR eh sevice Cae ee aoa 85 
Diserimina tion ie ale ee aa ela ae ene ae 54, 117 
Djwal Kul, Master 
Meeting with C. W. Leadbeater ................... 9, 10 
a CoS oats 03 EA AOeE Crem ghee ee = | Oo ERIS SY OO oh SRL STS yy is 
(Goempanion ‘of Master ouucpurmil’.. .. )-cueuua onsen 29 
Physicaliappeéarance sof: sen oe... «cicciaeks | Maen 40 
Presence: atimecond«Inivgation 22) ). \\siJ ests ooo alee 175 
Instructions regarding: Rayaivn. «: cash. osueiiee alae 235 
Dov ther Brothers: cial ey te eek ce es | as ls vole ee Ce 11 
Poubt vor Ua Certainty neler es te a des intl caine Carte 169, 170 
Druids, Teaching of Trinity among the ............. 265, 266 
Duty .thewdeal ol; Hinduism CMe nc ee ee 258 
wel ay pa'e Ceca te cnt ony a Mia et Meine ee Teh cds 203 
Earth, Models of variations of surface of the ............ 23 
Hbner,<Margaret and Christina tiaisscuie as aca ie seth ee 257 


HT CION Cys carte woe d dipenie hela alacke Fa lal can es) cle ltl ahd ee 89 


PAGE 
POOR es CURA Ree k see SMO iatle Le a eRe ea rear 152, 168 
Bnd iotshnversofmonady ub sew ais ey oben rate 13 
PriG tits ATT ROUL Rule ee ela a eis RAV ds oy ae ow ee prea nie ato 15 
Domaine personality Haws sas nes op eee 16, 163 
TITUGA GOD WILL ITIODAG eco dene heacce «Ue e aa ae ee 17;,.13% 
PAR ITUC TEL bees) EEN OLUCan Badass rcsas skein esos 'n a louv isla forsee aan ee oth take 41, 42 
PAUL VAT COC eS, Stal alah. Saco alae « Sate Sarees Ge ree ren 73 
ARNSEUAGEKL Wiech niite hole aly» Lia db ve a cola sR Nee ti ate 122 
Pnfoliment) withm. Master)... fs 2a ee eet oe 142 
ATMITEALIGIN OL fake ois oe dstd ok ielaln cote ge IS has 148 
COTBICErAalION! OL U0 osc Fak clea. ae eat aka See Pe os 152 
Birth oivateindividualizationy yee gene a eee 153 
Communication with personality ............... 156, 157 
TAS ONTOWNADISNE Oe ens ote ee ewe inlem ereeiee 158, 192 
AP OTIDATISOTOLOL NN etianivis state he ee heiee ean Leen er 159, 160 
Attention’ to child personalities... 0.3. . yn'nc ew velee 162 
Bféctiof) Second Initiation. once so... hss salos = > eae 189 
Afrection between). cies Coles we dist nce Pacene ane Metre alee 191 
Egyptian description of Initiation ..............eseecees 197 
Mevotian teachingiof Trinity 2/30). ua epee 265, 266 
PACTOCNUA LN ATEIUCIAL |e isch, come ss ss AeA aaa eia tae 41, 42, 162 
THEN GH LALO NVOPSINIOs : so + oie s ss «th gees RON > ee re oe 256 
PGAUYOL nthe ee hs ech 9 Sie oie 4 ae wield hae hala Meee ed Ha ate eee 189 
ER ORMO DS User re bait War wo oes sip 2 5ce plain emo cane eran 66, 87-91, 93 
WUDCEA VOTH eIS MN tale eo sp 5's sels ciat'sl acta ea alacant aaa 315, 316, 317 
Enthusiasm for service ............0e+:- EA LY AGMA, eal wears 85 
Pore ONT AS VOB as a oa 5/5 s « o's als ls ot ecole eat een nat 254 
PAD LOTICY DUANE techy ois 03.5 « 0s A ae oan eee 116 
Etheric body, image of probationer’s ...............0000- 69 
Europe 
In} thercharce; otra Adept |. :2. .c on han meee 211 
BMlishtenmentwotie >... +s -s scam een eee ae 221 5.222 
IALUTOCSDITILAT ITI sss s sce oa RE eee 249, 250 
PCO LIOT ae: bela: 1,3, 4, 12, 14, 15, 23, 49, 51, 57, 119, 133 
BEOTETON A Pei GE oil os ahead atys «hie sacks epee ee en aeree 315, 316, 317 
UCT ig” SESW I LN GO Rack ON Pa ese E MREMDIE BS 44, 75, 16, 77 
Fetters 
MATL TNLOGE ere ss cie's asi Dace ag aden 169, 170, 171, 172, 180 
UEC g LPR Ye BS 08 Ch a Rohe amen PR MRC, RTT Con SEAR Nac CS” 190 
SIR OLL mci at chit cy cial d era's tins wrt a dies Mee ake a 202, 203 
Seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth ................... 203 
PMP eheare Ole TREOSOPRY tn. -. eke a eek bec ec reat aes rf 


EIOROMANGA Scene ant Ae Cen poe ae ee ee eee Ee 256 


338 INDEX 


PAGE 
Flame, Comparison of aspirants to .................: 61, 62 
Flowers, Shower of at Wesak Festival .................. 292 
Bye) 0024 ey ead aie ee WUE ia URSA A MRA cm Ca Ete meebo Co 322 
Force Distribution: Ol gin au aude lamer tents 104, 105, 106, 209 
PournNoble AL raths Vea uiah vate aceite, Meee ce enka neen 299, 302 
PROG ASODT YH ii. Sis leew ein ae wis laeea ey lets aan tayenein ERED PEMa 6 Sota 257, 263 
FrenchviRevolttion) Pe. ccs vielen aus oa erae c milareneee Laie 212 
Funnel, Comparison of vehicles of chela to ......... 101, 104 
Crapriel: meaning /Ofy sie lu aies eiteacear. tare carat Maen 240, 241 
Games) Aa’ Telaxations, 1540s: Liaie ode oa ae rates SPN Rtn amen 109 
CRANIGHAE VAR a Lal ea lceate delice Riba Ua da OUR Deanigy thy Sean 30, 130 
Gugeling: effect‘on\ astral \bodyy mons ioe. cen ee eal erat 92 
CFODERIOESETE Wet hau Tse eiesmtera wea wate aritare aay a eee ime res Stay 322, 323, 324 
CROC ITUIN BEULE a VIN id dio diate as a ole earata oral elite tec Ht I a ane an 3 
CFO. Plans OF Niger tale nalecce ee es Rete terete) ott eee 51, 133 
Gotrabouiy seen Ts et cee eae nae 172, 188 
Geral OL Ghee noel dior d cortsriova asta las le oT art, a ue nen 15 
GEAR WL RE US UO oie Uae Rt ORI kg ane aes PPS Ateneo ariae 5 
Great White Brotherhood, The 
Guardians of} the! World yu Cs asa eras tel oatte aerate 18 
Communication with each other ................... 19 
MESUIIASLOT Hissar alr eee RN UEEN dict AS arc eee LH ately aad echelon ate een 23 
PERISHOTIOE OE aa sia cl NE Park ieed cig ave tied a art ale) cle Aa ena ea 48, 132 
Qualifications for membership in .............. 51, 52, 53 
Effect of irritability upon consciousness of .......... 82 
Kingdom) Of Deaveny yin igags gee e «oe MOR cele sarees 86 
Preparation for presentation to ...........c.eceeeeee 112 
Communion ot: Saints? (ope... chee eee Cee 120 
An instrument of Lord of the World ........ 121, 125, 323 
Gonsclousness) Of). 0, uhtemtentsid ss ahs 122, 123, 125, 148 
Bless oy Ot el oie k oe 28 Gate Oe ly 54 ty Marne 124, 139, 143 
Rivhts of ‘memberstot svar. 2. oo pene on 125, 126 
Organization or ie Pow ieee, ees os b 5 Gee a gee ee ee 126 
Effect of failure of an Initiate on ................00. i2r 
Responsibility of members ..............200000- 134, 135 
Number of members and division of work ...... 210, 211 
Fave yrs isla une se tetas le ek Rite © ce a) alo Ss ate 233, 234 
CEPADAEY OT) CCCI ELIGTATCIVUT Pot sen. ita shri tent aetna 266, 267 
Participation in Wesak Festival ............ 283, 286, 288 
Greece: * Nature-spirite cot i Iii ae ce 2A as ee ee eee 250 
CElroirp BOUL Aceh, ee roa eae ra rena. hr ate ff cer eae, Spee ne 14, 15 


Garin cee RO) EL ONE AY 95, 96, 100, 101 


INDEX 339 


PAGE 
FURANSS Vals ccc en Aaae ioral tol Salter g Ue Rislacs SUM cts eu neinaeg 188, 193 
Happiness of mankind, Effect of upon nature-spirits, 249, 250 
Harmony, characteristic of Fourth Ray ............. 249, 253 
Healing, methods characteristic of Rays ............ 245, 246 
Health 
AU eCessILY TOTP AGepts? 2 is Pa taawinie wean ete es 41 
A’ necessity for Initiates ....... 2.0 5.05.64 PITY 146, 147 
Hier yore ls INCOM, FOES ot ae lin Wt hele dite bioawern eet ananh ge 86 
PAPA VERY IVERTEN Rien eb cs 2s als ad acd eid sky grea ae ete tM RNY’ 269 
Lake aeet=)c) Oye NAL VON ITUCS FONDUE LL RARE ORC 2 Masta ab wg AG Gia)! (LANG 279 
PIEPER BOOK GIs boy GE ie eee ae ha es amarok See AN RUN 201 
PerisesyOl Praxiteles Gis ligay baie eee ee enw iieeeibaroieta Uh ake ALB 39 
Hidden Side of Christian Festivals, The .............4.. 86 
PHiaden audeor Things T hewn. oe he yee ot 74, 111 
Hierarchy, Occult (see Great White Brotherhood) 
PLVATION. BIVIBRLED RLS eee NE ah RN Melee) Senn NS RU ra 39, 249: 
PASTA EA YAR ARS shee al 6! esti Sate ol ANN MAY as TU Foe NN 18, 34, 37 
PATO GI MRD ia ras CRB oe eR Weve 258, 259, 260, 261, 280 
Hmaw:teaching- of the Trinity <3 2o.d¢a. tere dee seo 265, 266. 
PLIMCUA PACTECUNOOKS OL LNO/.c sche Las deweu elaine sie iatey 115 
Heise on esoteric Theosophy *\o. eee. CP a ean 11 
PIP GORING AAC EH ilic sate aistat ake Ucar hee eRe ote Me TGR AH 232 
Holy Ghost, Descent of the, Symbolism of ........... ... 204 
Holy Week, Symbology of events of .................00. 193 
PLGTIATIILY AMTOOL? OL dine (ols sic ss ea Lb uals bess Pere ote ate eis Lin 328 
Lo beVan dc 0% Big WP Rn @ Bb 20) CP te ORAS LA! VI Gl 4 eh TR 11 
PS ETELA EG Vitae he Ee SNE aie ots Srosoe ag ak ARI iar ea 84, 85 
MuDIOr SENSE tOm DECEssary o,f ee hee ae be ce ee ata 20 
PRT. eI ALLOST Cie ie Oiere 6s.» so x iecels aie ante ee water a ee 251 
TIVO CAPES ONCODM ESE oss oat calelele sale witrele ae etme my 35, 36. 
RSID MOO Sie ate erP eee CUS ed.o chs bisientclalew eemle ee Ene 249 
UTEIRCTRLILC? VW UELLC) LOCUS, ENE (oss oleic e ok sia Re lees 249 
Images of pupils on probation .............. 25, 69, 70, 71, 99 
India, in the charge of an Adept .............-.000.. 211, 247 
Indian testimony regarding the existence of Perfected Men 7 
TERE TMZ ATION PAR as SOS See ahd es Cateren ote aie ae VOL Da 
Initiate 
Responsibilities of ............ 123, 184, 185, 149, 150, 151 
Expansion of comsciousness Of ........eccceeececcces 124 
ORMULATION Moree ea ale nas coe kate 126, 127, 185, 186, 196 
SELIG UN EIUIANOL Ur Gort eer avs she Sak clea oe ah amen eae eared ee 137 


340 INDEX 


PAGE 
Initiate (continued) 
Communication between ego and personality ....... 156 
Pemnta tion) Ol, ae thei kies Bie ee ae tht oueluon dam cue 187 
Prltiabronn OCHA as pM k eee ta eee bees be aaa (ERAS ae! 
Heniivenenta conn cavers. oy coe ets 51, 143, 144, 145 
Systems| leading aspirant \£0, i. 5 We emeite eaielone wey 112-119 
PresentitimestsVorablestors us paseins ee ties oe date ee 119 
Appearance) of ‘Star faticnnconeeni sees Gee oei 136, 137 
Litmie required TOrey cee eee omere rahe be eres 140, 141 
Variationin Jinterval; betweene 20s 2csa.kues teenie eee 145 
OH voun ge WEODIE Piss de ac ese acai ae ote ere tote en nee 147-151 
Lavestoccupied: betweenin sis. 4) se Sean meen 192 
Higher di’. de5 ben te eg em) CC ica 192-209 
Egyptian ‘description of.) «sai kes et erence 197 
Farsi han eye ea bee epee s Bice dllk algtereh. alana eet ae 120-151 
Qunalincations fOr ia wc. bars ee ceca ott uicaeaie Ra e 119 
Blessing : LIVEN) cts be eee tsk elas oth ore ee 124 
AnnountrOiyh. 2 talus Gia ate adsl acts cea een 128-140 
Charge: Civeln}iet wees ween ae Mi che 128, 133-136 
Robes iwortnein oon ao ANG te he As Bade 129, 130 
Pests (SIVEN Witt cc On uae eee ee, eae Ps 
Powerssconterredyati: ioe mikes 2c tetas hel apie ae 138 
Symbolized ‘by; Gospel. story). ic. duhesuke oo 186, 187 
Second 
Requirements fOr eitegiseks tc... + ee ee i2cnire 
Accountiof ceremony meme se oos40 pee eae 174-184 
PL GStah SIVETL Ui < ncce catipe eae r es oo, cca ein ee 182 
As Baptism, Ob, HOly AG HOSD \..usscs pees cele oie 187 
Third 
pymbolovy, concerning een. 2... <.ausic un ee 189 
POUPGG Fie ithe vis te te oN Rea <x. 5 Ct aes ene 192 
Symbolized by Crucifixion and Resurrection..... 
glaba ciatla aye A ictkis at RRP EBIISL.: oy die Saas Mae 193, 196, 197 
HAUG) date ein SAP en Cee As, Un ere eee 185, 203 
Iathev Outer GOuUrth..c.) ieee ee A he, cc) a eee 57 
lnnen Lifes Deu ind co Me ee a oe. aT eet 41, 65, 238 
Intuitional (consclousnéss.is:. acco, wal os oo 124 
Invisible Helpers: i200. a6 dake set Meee vel Lee ae > 220, 221 
Tnuisthle: elpers ead: Gia oll zu re eee, ain 112, 118, 220 
Treland.-Nature-spimte, Of Wik tes cic okite lech Be ee ee 250 
Irritability as a hindrance to spiritual growth, 64, 82, 85, 87, 88 
Isiah, .Quotation drome. oe. oe ee ee 202 


PAGE 
Jealous ya eee ORE eee LE neat che ait edie inlets! Monianiery 89 
JGm RIV BStE I) aioe sc ails eee ac aan sel wisktca carey of irae 224, 250 
PUVBICA LAD PORTACELOLIM ye sa vias. Marre ele sien Wy RlaMae 39, 40 
TA URED cece CHT We eee tte ee vedi ee ahaa clei g sj) tallow des 0h oN) Ba tk 6 40 
AS CCOMMELEOL VCAD CICA LE 5 2e'5ie s aixlct «Soe vo lngalointetn ols 130, 131 
EERE EY AAs Ce (ee hte share ite) n'a b, 5 oats pesleues sec eate Te by ore 243 
MPENOTITITUI NCU Reeh cra pial: ee, 0 Mies We Gud he ono Ue Oey Ae Mae dicot 203 
TAP 2 iss ot fans Seintat 8 Ba, sak: oll sy. u'¢ Oo Ete AN erie 241 
MT SIR UBT IC re Le Win ET. oh sca s yer a clcencvats ner otal eR Neg Ee 193 
LNG EEA Sat LITMAN: Ati. sol 6 okt ain Slaieh s ua ae ol Sal Grae a tah apie ee 127 
mate enla de Weati val is iia) 5 nthe ds Sonhe mies se clad ebad tint ad when 299 
MAMIE VISSLCT ER mot ct See tn) oui ad eae tena Nace aie alle taba ene 247 
(Wh dieaGbeater Buy 181 hi LO Ward ate hoes cera weuets aac 8 
PHYSICALIADDEATANCE (Oli ess tpn auiain Sse rolsen Ve is)atelalne ncaa 40 
Benals.ebeaening Of ErIniby: i) amas ee cteee aerated 265, 266 
AINGCASAMIOUITIM MOLLER Ges sure tidcele ater es whtleliewiabls 190 
TARP Yaa eis ee eee i, Se 1 Cale 1, 22, 41, 42, 52, 72, 93, 149, 197, 244 
Mmearnuosies with the Masters: so. ses tacts aso Utes mere 63 
Penve ye HiUlOia: «4:0. «> vine ote pebed dees e n Meraee ie eit 276 
BAY OTR TCDOW COLE iene cieren ee ea cite tile a eke iaee als 138, 183 
MADE OUAem OTIC Ad Dente “abides, sok ohea acne aie 83, 321, 322 
PMP ISN TPAC TAIT] FONT ER LO h.e aha atte aun aes aigiad 4, 45, 259, 261, 295 
POPS ATNUITEL g VIT. v5) ooo 2G os) Ade Wel dite eae oeede oe norenieeeey de 53, 54 
TT RST AIC GME ore Fate At io a dnialt oty le\ ah nim nlite ies uae emetone 208, 325 
MS AINTIAYSR REL OUTER AR i ots ihc s rs’, » 4.60.8 shard vce aataielmumahinette 140, 323 
Kuthumi, Master 
Meeting with Damodar K. Masa ST Sty te panto 7 
MALEIALIZATIONS AG AGYAL/.. csigelestoomiens anc eelanieaa as 10 
BI GIOGNOL Wain Bun alate: 2 avin mater alan Geet 2251205" 26 
Gilardian Of OeCITAMUSCUM | A.\s'ccscchiaiieada Mule ated ter as 23 
PETS COL cic ePID Go, 46 0 old RTA Meabetapta atest arn alee te 25. 
Pbiatis INUyeeete ts ef. > 0.2) < ¢.a:e cele eet eae aaa a ane 27 
PBPSATT) 11h, DOMDEMOLE es ie Nil ote’ + «4 sin sista tehaepatel etna 27, 29, 30 
SESERUCT COL trate Tee k eb aes so) ai cik us elec ashe end pauh telaeiaree Ra eee 27 
PEER Ech etn atlas Wino) anon ie Winn bata A acne here rane (ae 28, 43 
A eth) COI PORETIG he's dhs) vic Heta ateteas aus taeaie Steteumaets ie ales 29, 30 
CORSA CA TORY TIN Bi ota ake oo se HS aiceeraleie nies aM Ns Lk 31 
Hise OO ANG,  ClOCDING 5k.) 54s i wncele ae etal ie 3 32 
SIE PSF AVG oR GUE ELMS Bie AAO aE eerie TACT RA AINE NAAR AA RNR 33 
As assistant and successor of the Lord Maitreya.... 36, 78 
EPIRA COME BUS! OV Cisco asier<e 5/4: d sitaie airtel andre he 36 


RIYORICAL SATIPCATATICE yi ie heer eat Mie inet oR etn as). Ces 38. 


342 INDEX 


PAGE 
Kuthumi, Master (continued) 
Bodhisattva of Sixth Root-Race ................. 38, 231 
Liniversity) STAdUVAbEHI «Helena wie pvt eile terete Ppremiaed es 43 
Statement regarding theosophical knowledge ........ 48 
As the teacher of the author of At the Feet of the 
We aster VCS SG DRS a ahah ME a pont ena eg 53, (04,) 55 
Young People On Upropakilon ve. aires cea: ween ieee “78 
AGVice tO. PUD UME aaron at a nee Gaza he ae te nae 121, 122 
AS Tanita GO Ae ato OD ee Sikora auak 2h ok Lang ea a 129 
As Proposer’ Of! Cancidgateniiae iui cee nmecie ae ont 130, 131 
Attendance at Second Initiation ................ 174, 175 
Address'ito) astral witnesses )S\! Siac Shs ae 184 
Responsibility for Theosophical Society ............ 221 
Work ofits ti cri iin ck Oi aie te Wa i eames berate et eeneen 247, 248 
Pupiliof' Master Dhruva lolita eles saat 2 o vaee aoaeemen 272 
Wetrtighiaa es Oe Aa es cv rane tore ne eae la a ernen 187 
THQO-G8E EI SIDER CHEN OUEKRE Santas Ue Re SOT) RR a nee 295 
Taduziiter yan ih eee SCR nC nCna Se tenet sai, 1 toler meena 91, 92 
Lazarus) Syinbology ‘ofiraising (of tie cee wees 193 
Laziness as a hindrance to spiritual progress ............. 88 
Leadbeater, C. W. 
Testimony of meeting the Masters ....... 8, 9, 10, 35, 36 
Lnstruction ot Master stone aka eee och late itera traces 51, 52 
Incident of man thought to have been overlooked by 
thes Master viii deuce toes oes Aik cre emer 60, 61, 62 
Incident of lady who desired to draw near to the 
Master (4 0).4 Visite Watney cee rat aie beamline 64. 65 
As‘a‘teacher ‘of young péople. s.r eee 78, 79 
Advice to pupils on probation ..)................... 85-96 
Incident of delivering message from Master to an- 
other persone) 81 sees ee 2 S| Earle hea sen ae 106, 107 
Method of meditation to reach consciousness of 
Masters tani he ate meme, 0%. ee me CteaN areRan 107, 108 
Piretcontact (vith neosonbyi co ocisuent eee ee 116 
Promise) given ‘Lord Maitreyarc eel) oe cee eee 132 
Blessing angel of neighborhood ..................... 143 
Testimony as to seeing Great Beings ............... 206 
Meéetine: Master’ Diwali Kuli si ue sees seen ee ee 235 
Testimony regarding Visitors from other Solar 
Syatemsee es aye Sle ie nee ire ae en ee eee 278 
Lemiurians) Images (of iin aediputeie de sien bale (ales carnal ee 23 


Library in home of the Master Kuthumi ................ 27 


; PAGE 
TAQKE, Of pASWH TIRE Hae en 6 Fi rare Clete dea ope 68 Shale alate bln nl ils 276 
LADIES Ofa EMO MEAL patois isons sia die. ik age ee es «2h 3 31, 56, 127, 142, 249 
Linen robe of candidate changed to silk ............ 129, 1388 
Livelihood, Right means of ...........0. esses eees 314, 315 
Logoi 

PAV OWENS ATOM ie ic 4! sHoln Wt circle ss brut eid oo ie halal 237, 238 
Planetary, Effect. on astral bodies .............. 238, 254 
Logos, Solar 
RUE PPCSCTIEB LIVE VOLE LAG 1 WN asic wilee wie Wiese Mlaeue bra RLelet ats 120 
ELATEGOASDECES OL Os AS yeti il de Diuvieis ale lataentd 152, 153 
TEOVAOTe LICCEUTER) OF 1907 ox bias uie® sn veo staalelelale eh a ciate plone 221 
Lord of the Flame 
Incarnation as Shri Shankaracharya ................ 280 
PILOT: LHECVV OFLU Ne Baca bis Tl dia eins ale NUM K eine erate eben 83, 126 
As Representative of Solar Logos ................0.4. 120 
ASSN eM Ne EN ILIALOR Fads cio il a eae SLR OM ale ettlata eRcn tent 121 
OTISCIOUSIIESS FOE EIA ds lieis isco ees Swine wate hon she nama ouan g 122 
Great White Brotherhood one in Him .............. 125 
PUA BOE at ek edb h he ok ot ReW selene oe bine G5 See benen et 126, 134 
TOTES) OF rar Waal aed 8. oe ER Rae ap ialetale ie ahi eed uae ET 134 
Der Of Rin init, 3 lal attra 's: baate dete ie Se 136, 139, 175, 183 
Presemation ‘of Initiate to 0:5 0s dea ae. CON e Oe ears 139 
MMOress GON Nitiatey .AVscsce wes ewes aa eiee saute 140 
Asinitistoraty Uhird ‘Initiation: osiesk) Vues wens canes 190 
Desenohion (on beauty Ol kia ae ce bla eats 201, 321 
ASHTIGRAVOL) DAES | PERV, CUS TA Pe aay EU ete EN 233 
Reflection of First Aspect of the Logos ............. 267 
bransmission or influence of!) 242i eee tee one tains 268 
Ant Crstodiancor- 10d of Power hick eeu ee ontes 287 
PLOTS POLO) he Aa y's be otaale wlohe A Wane eer EG 322 
Presentawon (onAspirant’ toes. Peo Mee 322 
Lord of the World Initiation, self-taken ................ 327 
Marcas OF LEE VV OTIC weed ooo obsess wich avore PUES Mie Wha see 322, 324 
iotus, Lhe thougand-petaled \)..,...\.).\\eeivelies comb ereneva 294 
BAIVOES. Vokes LAU e teed eee doe de ee Sane eet 54, 82, 98, 191 
Machinery; models, of all: kinds), ::.3s o 05 dtp dee slau eee 24 
DIGANAVACUSPVB. 55 bets ees Slee ee eae Reet tree ea eek canoe 296 
ROU Ch NA Ni tas o's ta ck eae lene io hedetosely VO te el DEM aie 172 
Magic 
TUSLPALOUSL DL ALY DES) OL ails nai deta te earch torte alee 24 
ATED COV nigh Gata ow tree CaP Rae POOR heh 236 


Magnetic centers 


344 INDEX 


PAGE 
Mahabhinishkramana, The Great Sacrifice .............. 277 
Maha-Chohan 
Description of physical appearance ..............66- 38 
Presentation to of accepted chelas .................. 99 
Presence ats Hirst init ahlon oisnje ae vines csen.spmeres atebiae 129 
Presencevat) Second s1nitiation «2.2. soy biciaalare apie ee 175 
Supervisor of Rays Three to Seven ............. 233, 234 
Reflection of Third Aspect of Logos ................ 267 
IW OTE OT Wuias tay cipte ainle caatereea ibis eeeee ©) aes eer eee 269, 270 
Highest Initiation on Rays Three to Seven ......... 270 
Mahamangala: Suttay.. sco as bis vie wath cee note > aan 290, 291 
Mahaviragi eich co iawk Wom skates eee cia lain ae een 295 
Maitreya, Lord 
LOM OL is ca wt aie bee bie wis Ce ale nile eden ata Saeed ete 34, 37 
Description of physical appearance ............... 36, 37 
Usesofibody: of pupilisciss ie ss nell ae tae 41, 44, 45, 46 
Approval of At the Feet of the Master ........... 55, 56 
Coming OU y. ty aie eet makes tiie ee ret yaa 72, 146, 225 
Tita tions D¥rcn eck ee te eae aad Paleo an eee ee ee 75 
Teacher of Gods and Men ........... Seirditate HUES.” fi 
Minister for Religion and Education ............. 78, 269 
AS?TINGiQGObis eos ncak cisuc le sie oe 129, 7130, lalysla2e dee. ida 
Description: of ‘garden; ole) vaya. newts 129, 174, 175 
His teachings: Uv, o Wicd wk aes aise ae kia eae ee 227 
Representative of Lord Buddha) ..:% 12). ove sues ema 268 
As ‘Heart. of “Heavenly Mant, a.203.a nck sae eee 269 
Unity of Master Kuthumi with ................ 2i2, 240 
Master (Dhruva. pupil | Ofige asec s + .ale eee ieee 273 
Representative and expression of Second Person of 
THE LODO a tc yse 0 eee EREE te hrs, os /o) ieee em 273, 274, 275 
Materialization of at Wesak Ceremony ......... 286, 288 
As successor of Lord Gautama Buddha ............. 295 
Meaning’ or naing. 0.5; ccceereis «+ «+ dane ea eee 295 
Thichrnations (Of «: tc. apc a pn rceteeee ree 295, 296 
AVOTI OFe cs ot ciatun kee Rite enema a kc! oe annie Geers 296, 297 
Celebration of Asala Ceremony at home of...... 298, 299 
Man O1VasIOnS: OFF) Coal na ee eieeet et oie Sal nadie ake ea 12 
Man, Perfected, Lines of progress for ..............00. 17, 18 
Meno eighth wietter oa... a clots tac onde a ieee ee 203 
ManodVarava liana... cess daionmienn oes oe caiet a ae ae eae 117 
Manu 
Work of and place in Heavenly Man ............... 269 


Mani; ‘Gord, Chakeshtsha ya. t. i. us, tcues | ae aaa, One 36 


INDEX 345 


PAGE 
Manu, Lord Vaivasvata 
Description of physical appearance of .............. 34 
TEGMIG Gi et ee ek Lee ed eo iek feels e ole 34, 174, 175 
Presence cats Hirst (iNItiation | i400 cise. coy coal cele nara 129 
PresencevaL Cecona ANitiablON: 0.5..e aes geceme bes eab 173 
Vaya ab RUD anaes ge tir ae Em a MeN ape a CREA eM ND oT, 
As Representative of First Ray .......... aoe aia hea 233 
Representative of Lord of the World ............... 268 
PUR PRYTUP OTL OO Ps ici ts So heim ina sa ahs id rgb ape wlitlletila, wis la athe Meee oe cpanel mists Spall 
IASI COU ie ein ie aie 2 ce a W's davadelals, aie Maas inane ae Maat 327 
NranUuschipis OL LANUQuILY: )...4 is spas tae Se eee a eree 24 
prey V isiole: and Invisible 028s). oleate ea es ee Zeb LOL 


Man: Whence, How and Whither.. 40, 207, 208, 231, 324, 325 
Masters, The 


Hvidence: of existence ol ols. i oiiiee. ihe hoa eae 1-20 
NIALETIBIIZALION. Ol orta cs cate eee 6, 7, 9, 10, 17, 18, 286 
Willingness to take pupils giant ol. ae 19, 49, 50 
Fhysiés) bodies of 7. ee nus, 7 era ae earn 21-47 
IV ALIOTIALIEV OL aie). s coe cirala Staten E ia eas ele een ag 
Reason for residing in the East .................. 28, 29 
TVPOSOU COL BECIUISION sche cos ry ain Nene ie eine come areas 44 
BPEL OTe ris oie ais so iy suds olalpe dhe hanced ae arene cae 48 
WY RV INAY he Meru retah are kG eC Ue ra ee Tie eR RE .. 48-68 
AcyvICe LO Ups Ont probation ta vaeaun «as eae eee 81-85 
PPCRETINGION OL AUTA eure ise obiey Slew kin gee Be ee eee 99, 100 
Pnione withwaccepteds pup f ee. cue Oa Beier eae 100 
(ad csc HOT, 63 Liha eg 2 EN pO te RUM ah Ah Miah 142, 143 
SC Es eras mya te meta ee oe fice MO MC Re anes 210, 211 
WORK OT eta eens. cidlece Ciel, BQan RV AC nRee maoeiiniay 233, 234 
ONAliLies Ole mn ne el /os. SSO Sie maint et er eb eee 253 
BASES PL NE Ce ENE, a. ws a bdy calege eRe nee EER 210, 211 
15 ESTs aie oi ER ty SMR EOE Oo. ol LR cag th 280 
BEV AAT Ar, «| AITO A TREN Bien! nes oe GRIER aera raere SIM pres 7 
May (Wesak) Festival, Description of ............... 282-293 
Mayavi-rupa, Definition and use of ............ 182, 184, 185 
PRIESTS LIC ete re tat oi waits a Metals yeaa C 63, 100, 163 
PTC ROATAOT PERT tal hag sale ald ties Vantec eine wie Minis ea Ne 318, 319 
VEE CTH) egigigal CA Toa 1 Ae PUM RUE REI Mina Ramee SALE 38 150 8 317, 318 
MensPerfected, Existence: of . 0220002. i. 2e Se as 1-7, 50 
PI PUIOUS Ten tet ra che ais Usk e we cae ie ia 16, 66, 178, 183 
PEAT UAE ALT CAG AOL OU b ah tic banckbyscv ores tascavotaseies metal or ot atte a 90 
Hea of Secondminitiation oni i sie edowene sete ess ote 185 


PMMATOD OL) PPODAMONEK: sa 4 cs ces ca iain sum ete hess vie et 69 


346 INDEX 


PAGE 
Mental Plane os eelaee ek alate Woe it ati shen Ca uare eave Rn ee 173, 182 
Michael; ‘Meaning: of (Name wach carte yale Oe mrauen eae tke 240 
Mit bas aa Ue ye as Ce Ob eouk pies bela sk 4 De ipa saan 295 
Molinos) iis ahaa gia eis Oe) Wi Ue CP atn st erRNy col gtaie eta lglg gain samme re 257 
Mona vias Riel Mega) Meat Ta RUE YgAe Nee Oe onan Wane 208 
Definition’ Ob: \ks samen yy eae ella eee gi uata che ome. eee 12 
Personalityas) 1ragmengr Or use denen pean en es wa ey ae 13 
Donnnation’ of sour yee seats an se eae ae era ete 17 
Represented by silver star of consciousness ......... 137 
Blending) with! €g0 ih ere dalahielsa ca leutaeeuties 137, 138 
‘Takes: vows: of Initiation: (25 ¢i.. uaeeePa e ere ee 138 
Pledges a6, Initiation iii ai evan tena me eaters 149 
Descent of at individualization .............+0.. 154, 155 
Effect, of Second) Initiation on ji... .eee sce cen 189 
Lamitation vot iin oan) apes 2o cereale. tae aemty 302, 303 
Morya, Master 
Meeting with S. Ramaswamier ..............02cee0. 7 
Meeting with C. W. Leadbeater .................... 9 
Sense of humor necessary ............ WO, KEANE ry 21 
ET OTS) OF hia lala ad oio'a nue ie ete eer Uae he A rRT ERR MERC Stra 22, 32, 33 
Pripils Ob WUA scale wa Win ere 020 /U) 0 oleae cl get me 25 
Fis horse jo civic vr culd ane heed bic eels eikkes, baktare chert ot anne 29 
His) CLOLHING ioe wie GA lente hcl enn Girne ee 32 
Description of physical appearance ................. 34 
Meeting with Madame Blavatsky ................ 34, 35 
As successor of the Lord Vaivasvata Manu ....... 34, 78 
PAC OL HG): oki ialalautedpwendictat abbtomivedereie leh fa retaseiicls akties Mat eaeee 43 
As Inner Head of the Inner School ................ .59 
Link with individual members ..................... 60 
Utilization of ,members ‘of sehool.. .. 0s eae ee ee 60 
ASC nitiator si as idcrte ca eereitets « 0 <cele Oakes area eee 129 
Attendance at Second Initiation .................... 174 
Responsibility for Theosophical Society ............ 221 
As Manu of the Sixth Root-Race ................... 230 
WHR OE se ia ialeiott czas Sante Miele ean. </Rh0s AG o  Rra 247 
INIDSOR EE ong icama cia Cap meen koe i ary one aed (oY 
WES OEE iste os os ouinin Geol t ks Tis! sec pets See re ee 54, 119 
DAEUBGU OCCU Cr or he cis cipialans ahghelasSia‘cre ara eictece emer aie 23, 24 
Music of Devas at Initiation ................... 130, 186, 137 
RAAT TUIDS : ohocc o'e xstinth ww giocelacate Ww mcgitia pacman cab. ey ee 296 
Name, True, of Initiate. 0 aiiiilieed ue Ae 137 
National Angel’ Work of). oc... Se Oa 212, 213 


Nature-spirite (vias ih waive Mal ay wetee en ata iae 215, 249, 250 


PAGE 
PVE WID AIL CAPE ALA ise Wilaiele e citlvinisl pols ale She's 4 die a! e inlets Ga miays 39 
rT AT GO VAs Or tne whl Oe ois sas 6 ole rid we site 208, 209, 213 
TMa gigs halve tie ke lay bi ARN diay guatana a yn TUR MRR mODD eel eumRrd Et 199, 200, 202 
DLT TUYE UNA LL Gye ch) oi dccrrot abe soe a ioe sk en, is oh soa deas sisuora MNOMenRsls fale rape 267 
BU CHARI ETILFONCE! Ee His slalla cons sca mai dietaibedenpaelatal aint 299, 307 
Noise as a cause of irritability .............. Taga Has Wy ape feo 87 
BIOVEIS CG OLeTEACING (0 osm disun's\s sle'e tps pe os ain S ele 109, 110 
PEO EM VI COTE D TEER te 18 is | s soinle duane mie peialaietere ele ys allel ater lets 116, 251 
Occultism 
PRES OUITETMEN UG ia OL 14's) 54 2 asin gs abide ee aeela tate py ete ie bh eign ta 67 
Bract obedience (TEQUITGG) 10) cbs cisvataelestalalaaneiied wis 94, 95 
As the apotheosis of common sense ................. 147 


Offended, Readiness to be, a hindrance to spiritual growth 64 
Olcott, Colonel H. S. 


Testimony of seeing the Masters ................ 6, 7, 40 
RPA CCEA OF FOG MASUATE io 5if sicidabinihaidic camlaleeeiernalen 248 
Anithor obs buddhist) CAtCCIISIN 1/5 cies soale) satelales wha daatebane 260 
LEAT ATT LCCC sacle gO Cot A ECA MRR bag 11 
forderion toe otar.in the Bast, "Che | ieee Gun mi ine, 225 
Ordered Service, characteristic of Seventh Ray .......... 253 
Organ in home of ‘Master: Kuthumi jee ee ais 29, 30 
Ju heLSUY CSU b 18g Ee ea OFS eget Cr gah SE SELENE, Yate a SIE RA PO A 287 
Oriental books, Description of Path in ..... 112, 114, 115, 116 
CRTC US Ate oe renee oi cs oy 6 dees diccd ahepanace Sg AAC) act, oS 279 
PUT B OUT ATID arte tc ee atele Ste ot sates iva sk A me heed 152, 153, 154 
PERS A UA LUONO! Ble ees oe cc ada alana \etudue Mia es keene 212 
Penna Sat HeCieION TOL ds csc ieee aula Meier tole 25 
PIATATRAT INGER APR E (ee ote ik Ri hd 2a die as | os at 193 
AVA TENA) eisai ay 'o/3"y@ lobatele: tae apa LAN sbatteke Wats anes t17 
RET UT LD Rati eect e i s et sallesat Lins ae ieanha hanna ede aE 168 
Matern OnlesHMichifoldiiey «bo iagckodsd ooh Aaa the tomers 299, 307 
MALE eTORAMOUATINIAD Yagi h tut iota adin nema as 83, 84, 98, 164 
PAI ITOAGIONS TOT Sys «wins scales fattest aed 53, 67, 117, 118, 119 
Compared to method of universities ............ 112, 113 
Discovery of existence of .............. 114, 115, 116, 117 
LAPUA BOLI STE eT Tue) ue vitae Lathe aL lea) vialetta aes 57 
GR A LORITIONS {Us aiaie epics’ 6 Bales pike Lik 168, 169, 172, 191 
Prue IT eaeL OLLAD I actclat gig des thes Sey che Pe cl nse hie Re 190 
Penpacont ale MiTAnle Lhe tan Ci) Pie ee uc Sno (eee 301 
Perfected Men (see Masters) 
PerIGsNent ALOIAY Tete sorts oe hue eter ie 138, 208 


RETSOVETATING | Vat thoes MANIC ity # D8 Ph Tomo We NNO Merete 110 


348 INDEX 


PAGE 
Personality % wnat 13, 65, 155, 156, 157, 160, 161, 166, 169 
hia Dee ies Misses ai cated abi eta ry Aare SVS: Gliese beF aw. cua Rue uy 6 ee 172 
Phoenician) teaching ofthe Trinity. 2.2.2... 2. canna es 265, 266 
Physical body bales anaes wake Ges Wiles ae be ah aan ei ee 16 
Physical health required of aspirant ................ 146, 147 
Pituitary. (body) aiuiiils Uae aeuetan care kt ae lek anmid Ah oe deter 155 
Planes of existence 
As related /t0;-the, COSENOS ':.\.aies o's senian bales a obs ica amas 13 
IVEGTACIC by CA SEE Ee URS yt Mian lore! yiat ath Ue re em 138, 15 
Plaque in home of Master Djwal Kul ................... 33 
Powerin the Triangles) Ube valine... vite sabes 321-328 
Prakritic) cosmic planes v2: sects canes Pees thee 13, 328 
Presentation of Christ in Temple, Symbology of...... 189, 190 
Probation Moya wis. ed ena teivale ake ents ee ees 59, 62 
Tmages ob pi pils ion vs us oh sain tana ovate ae 25, 69, 70, 71 
Attitude toward life of pupils on ................... 57 
Object) Of ttl aay a acuihatdavele te Oke etyrs eile chee aia eee 69, 70 
UIT OND Ui oh eae shar chicka A men USO Recetas Mane 72, 81 
Y GUNG. DEOPIE/ ON Wichameatc el Geis hk ake 72, 73, 74, 79, 81, 86 
Account,of ceremony 4 20h i cetias fey ae, eee ee 79, 80, 81 
Advice from Master to pupils on .................. 81-85 
Progress iof pupil ees an eet nia? See a 85-96 
Dissolution of living images after acceptance ....... 99 
Pride as a hindrance to spiritual growth .............. 82, 83 
OGL Uy itn BEI A es tee mL RR eet Renee ln OCT eee Rae 251 
Progress GHOTLESE TOA: EO yah pa na oo ose ie eee 98 
Peyehic ‘faculties: side oi GA cca eee ee, | (le ae eee ee 188 
Potala aby ib wes piglets fess iee aie Ee MTR ws 12 8 1S eet ne 89 
Pupil, Accepted 
ET ORTORA/OF Vad uuicuilie a sane... s/a ene ae ee 101, 102 
As an outpost of the Master’s consciousness ......... 102 
Effect of disturbance in vehicles ..............-..0.. 103 
Additional body for Master ............... 104, 105, 106 
Privilege of laying thought beside that of his 
PARE: Hi eee uh ecw eek oe en 107j)122) 1238 
Right andi duty ofS S000 Fo) Tee eee 142 
Pupil, Probationary (see Probation) 
ENUNASGUAS Vas teas py Ae cole ee Mae Sa 247, 295 
AQUROtIATS ME ON fet Ler ees i Oh A) Mae a 257 
Peae re. Tees.” Daas ae Aa ae OR Seles ere 203 


Ragoczy, Prince (see Comte de St. Germain) 
FS nianaechary a) Pilirp n/c. Avge Mein Galen ete Janne team 250, 296 


INDEX | 349 


PAGE 
Ramaswamier, Mr. 8. 

Testimony of meeting Master Morya ............... if 
TLS WET e LeE IDA. i slerjeis Adm seins eee eld Vl Nala fy 8, 40 
A pire! MO Ca DIN Ow Oly DAINE ox\as5 so 's 2 uee-ateeeyh Mumia slo) ota 241 
Ce Vel Gee crete en oe sca Sorel he ce ebm 233-264 

‘Pablesoreavith. characteristics, \. 0.65 6.0\n eu meee eG 236, 237 

Mowe CONT: LOLOL ia kis «dvi tote eae Sie 89 237, 238 

Lyi WEEE (c) Dees an pm mgr ger o,()e ye ORD RRA 239 

Distinguishable in all kingdoms ................ 242, 243 

PEWESUTEDTERENEINE) «oa lu dostaeieeesek al teahoehgrmae ae ee ore 243 

TNAUENCE ) OF) 1S ALIN B ii si hobacies aciale nals eee eae 244 

isthe indi viduial)).i...)..) sam toni, wae se ee eee 244, 245 

Misi DIG WIG AUT sien sss IL oheie aN eld idan eiata Grice 246 

PETIOC AOL COMIN ANCA! soak ni) oe Meas ay Wea ae pc 255 

Subeyclesvor, influence! Aes hiaia F euace a ek earls Cee 255 

Initiationsiattainable upon. each joi i onlkaehiemen ke: 270 

Possibility, of. changing: 4.2. 2enae. su eee 271, 272 

PEAT LLU PMG site kele ee LAER ita ain, best ares iat AAS 33, 34, 224 

Lordvol the World tH eadwor pli ceanuiiles onatainn et! 
The Manu and Master Morya Representatives 
DRAM ee a ONE. ict eral erate ein tes 233, 234, 247 
Magiceore eis’... 5 lene hd Sand Goa UE St n'a Gas Ls GN BL Oar Rea 236 
Gharacteristics: afi Lay gous aera, Se eka ee 245 
Master Jupiter, Guardian of India .............. 247 
Initiations attainable upon ................. 270, 271 
ERTAMBIETON Ge dbO: kee vot cee Oe OER. eee Pra ate 272 
Possibilities sot) progress) Upon sas. even oes eens 326 
Second Ray 
VV GT tae Foes ts sass gi Sle Sesh ola tat cress SURI GR MM nar 225 
Gordes Buddhs Head of (s. ploveats dare abowestareien 233 
The Bodhisattva and Master Kuthumi Repre- 
SEDLASIVES Oils sic unwonlaaee Sacre 233, 234, 247 
GAT ACKETISUICR liao oso y Lae ede e US ee 245 
Initiations attainable upon ................ 270, 271 
CLPARIRTETENICE AGO. giclee olunes oa REET RG 272 
Third Ray 
Manha-Chonan Head) of) \) io. Maca) ee yn 233, 234 
UMIATROLOTISLIOS ) iia cn he aCe CR ai ak ay omen 245, 248 
Venetian Chohan Representative of ............ 248 
Fourth Ray 
Maha-Chokan: Headeob ji tbs oes t alge 2335-254. 
CODRPACTETISHICR OA rar ety eee a uc), lee Rees 245, 249 
Master Serapis Representative of .............. 248 


Artiste tupon, vite.) dive bane dad aS Pee eRe te 249 


350 INDEX 


PAGE 
Rays, The (continued) 
Fifth Ray 
Maha-Ghohan Head solic enw isin detelay ees 233, 234 
OHATACCETISICS Ue ies pa ee lateanana tl Ste ans 245, 246, 249 
Master Hilarion Representative of ............. 249 
Sixth Ray : 
Maha-Chohan) Head iiamitiye. sci ietiate ne ieee igtlen 233, 234 
Charaeteristics yy ce. Saute ¢<Mic ean eran ae aoe 245, 246 
Master Jesus Representative of ................ 250 
Subcycles ‘of \influence'cisc. bee tenis oe 255, 256 
Seventh Ray 
Maha-Chohani Head of! 4 iis nee airro enna eee 233, 234 
Instruction {rom IeEVasiucie sia ajeedle Wises tenes Saeed 237 
Characteristiosys io Wk Ued NSA eat ee 245, 246 
Master the Comte de St. Germain Represen- 
GEGIVE HOT IER UU GI ae eee el 251 
TInfluenceof coming yyy Ae iia lee eee oe oe 256, 262, 263 
FREY CATT MBION Hyer onli toc) asuuibnalcian ela topneinieemva Moats sayaiais Sieiepaie rete 1 
Statement regarding, by Master Kuthumi .......... 48 
Relaxation necessary for mental health ................. 109 
BRL NORA UIE CWO a ily LAR tent a Sih 217, 218, 219 
Religions 
Records of )}Supermenys inhi. y ee eee rere 4 
Brodtherhood ota y yin, at) ewne ate acer el eae ee te 226, 227 
In’connection with Ra yisiys eels a aie eae ee 236 
PeMembrance: i RISh HAUL ee aed kaon nD 317, 318 
Resurrection, Symbology’ of )....0j000. 0s. slat 193, 196, 197 
Ober hie, te (MOM K Hig site Sys a ae ee ons eer a a ee 251 
Rod of Power, The 

Description; and: Use sOf) 4 eae. cain eee Cae, 286-289 
Root-Race;\ Fourth Manicotti iere 21 ee, eee 36 
Root Race.’ Fifth ila Myce ae) Die las ae 34, 155 
RootRace: Sixthiyg or fees be Se 34, 230 

Comin ind ty Mie eso Cen eens Wel a 230, 231 
Roseneretis,! Christian 22a iene a se Oe fae de 251 
TUOSICTIICIAM A CR CG e Weta site we 07 9 ea er 256, 257 
Rupsraga, srxth etter: aaiiwscido ence, ae nae 202, 203 
HALVSDrOCCk ie ire PUTA ROA ty Je) te Sn aa 194, 257 
ees Lh: a ene Ons Bea rm ppt fut 118 
Saint Alba ei ele pully yy o 6, Way URS itn a DROS 251 
aint tueuskine «veh Wes ed 41 4h edit dn ee nae 241, 296 
prea ty Dem yes 4 sis ini pd heii Ee UR RE ie Pie ai 241 


INDEX _ 351 


PAGE 
BSPL ETI Ural LITA LLDCS DEV ATIE eerie Tor ats oes calle folie s Sic fe bla ba 207, 239, 293 
RTT TA UE oh eRe era Seats au lc bs want sede ow oe uistes 0! MOM ira vba eal 12 
PSIG PRT COM GR LIDEH. © ..0lei c)cisicelihas «/sisvavnlo/a ops b/ oid tole suebayar piesa 256 
BREET aE EYE eet ea di Tos co ahs toNad es Sesingdinl babes palo taneaaIn aha WRN 115 
PTL MTA OUIN AS! 4 5 6 Usk Glee ot oid Ato nes tered taal 241 
Bee LH Ga CeOSTPUTLION WOL rs vow neha woah e wnat ei fale aiuatenele a aa emes 120 
POMPE TUITE Ok eco Se vieieus, a's & eoeceibraid aaa Aol oiuvate Mean Batali able at 187 
PIC RV ACIE CANT IESG) REELED 6 5) ciaraseta ofnloi'dm al nlepstaveiel bitiel acaye 169, 170 
MAKTICASATOIN » INITIAGION®, «seine eis niaiein sion bieideds Manatee tard 174 
SRL ATAETOLL era cokee a ehat ate aN Goes ca alee a tetahavel aM ty oie p ebsa ga ons ite: Meee 121 
PREISEUA TNA en ott eats tatave ie ta hans Ab a kedde be dateroratrceedelaratedcteeaery ints: MOOR 118 
BEML CLAD e fases eieheak aoe hiPe a, 5 face! WRAY va lw ao atl al nt teas Rana PND 28 
PESTA ESA COS PRE LY Bh We tes '5.% is eet ic aN IR le wR BN ites eR RI Ta ear 208 
RSM Oyt ee, ta 22 SK ke us Aue arte in Ble cal Podctarts geal SORA READ LOL i LenS EAU 118 
RoR OTL ts eke te bene ey Che ge hae tar eels Whe ik te Gt LG acl leg a 169 
BPTI GIS WINIALS 2 es dium smininh Gre etc dd my crane RR 140, 321, 322 
BUT EUITER TE Os ee Oe a me Glee SONG Ae Re Ea Re foetal 67 
Scandinavian teaching of the Trinity ............... 265, 266 
Science, characteristic of Fifth Ray ..................08. 253 
Science of the Sacraments, The ............. 215, 243, 252, 253 
PTIA DIL) ON ACUTE-SDITILA)) Oli As '.0 Ws ce k'n ee wave eeu be Cates 250 
Secret Doctrine, The ...... 24, 115, 195, 234, 239, 323, 325, 326 
Self-Centeredness as a hindrance to spiritual growth..... 65 
Self-Development requisite to advancement ............ 62 
RO RTAATTE FSS aia MEET S12, 'o Sc hia be WHE Pats tate ws ie Sle lecele BRR ee ee 88 
Serapis, Master 
Description of physical appearance of .............. 39 
BY OFIS OLR E ee ae RES c saddam totale tates Buel SK ul hither 248 
BOTA CE p50 ia ie Gals SCRA 5c. Zia wate ec te bello talh wae Blevesaewn 82, 83, 85 
Se PINTS. OLNOTOG SL iets vba ks.dallalgag ence 238, 239, 240, 241 
Shadow or reflection of the Lord Buddha ........... 282, 283 
PRRINOSLAY 2 aI UNGM Mac os eta deanee 136, 139, 182, 287, 323 
BUARKATACHATVA © DHEL) ci oie oe o'ssteetsa es slaouie hee 4, 280, 281, 295 
cS AVCOUTY CEN ATA iagiar 2a 9) ON A a So 54, 118 
SLA ic ARR oe Rally «Men 01 MAT SSS Bee AGHA, ae LD, 258, 261 
PETE TS UELCLISIVE MITT TE SIGN a Shy cighion, Deters te chater ee Gn eee ete alee 261 
RICHI V ee MOUUITE-BDITICS | OL Ped week Oe oi oie Gears pak wee ee 250 
CMRI GELN Agee TINGE as ais) ociaa an iia Se at inte eee Pee ent 292 
Silabbataparamassa, third fetter ...............0006. 1698 P71; 
PArEer WeCOUEr |) Lhe ae eu us Sea eG AS ee ee 327 
PIVePPOtar. OL CONSClousness Main.) SYSOP sree chee Os 137 
Simplicity required in probationary pupil ............. 85, 86 
BU VE Pet Bet GN), Heath eh sits yk heats oar aah eet aa 11 


BPOPATLARS Orn. EY hE eeu h So eB kie eR Ty VW ahical/ Sete aN Roi 168 


352 INDEX 


SOnSIIT ply eee ek oe Ree ate asdsn oi oan ales a'y'e whee bl Aide <u ae paelonaeems 142 
SOTrO WOT SUEFCrING iniae oe is aitae is ipeeters aes gv 302, 303, 304, 305 
CAUSE OT he OR cca clo aceceade vera tess lakaroue ce Satpal get? eae an 305, 306 
Geasine: OlMacwencman pamtler ss eeitneeas a’ > aaa 306, 307 
Escape: frome ecicas See canes Mei Bie is ithe ancraicket se ee 307 
Saba aby Wo cue sia RAN om he a1 ear clara ne Cie ee Ma TAN eat 168 
TUL bis: Hea deatss a ay Ice et "Noe Bev RE ate to nem veircre et atirte ye ethene at isha ao 13 
SPOOCH isk seaiviginiajeldonlele elaheraie se lebe suo anes ite os Wel eee a Ik eae ea 98 
Refinements Of A wais p2 dicisiseone ho ete tesa hsbc che 82 
Barina bei rhe bteiarailas Do tite ate sts ioe ete ene eoeeec at eee 93, 94 
Tigi trian ew hantes ob oor ba ak ete ot rae as hee 311, 312, 313 
Spinto thew Barth? aus ees ect be ches sats soe ete eee 321 
Soirit)of the: Races 5 sees Weal sale seb tare a oes Smee ee 212 
SPP tiualis, “VIGGeTO esi. es Wels cralnaryae lenis oi. net eer 256 
SCLC arose ie tao a es ohecmle arta < eGo Pie at peel a aes a oe en 124 
Star Old Consciousness (jl) desist, apenas esejedacd fees 137, 155 
Statues of deaders: of. thes past 7 .i5 fice: ose eos eae eee 23 
Stones Precious, table! o1sraya/). aes oom ees ee 243 
Strength, characteristic of First Ray ....... ea Be hoe Oe a 252 
Studysin;, Consciousness, Ay Ac gee nkaeeeee a a ae 267 
Sabrace, PF ourty sci as 5 wsie = nels, vo pels teat eet eee oe 262 
Sulbrace, oe icine, seein tiie e ghee weee td yearn 155, 228, 262 
Subrace, Sixth, Characteristics of ............... 227-230, 262 
Supermen (see Adepts and Masters) 
DUDETBRILION fie meee le pone s ele Benet le ae rs 169, 171, 172, 181,218 
Sympathy; unfoldment ofiin?pupil ian: 2 hore eee ae 82 
4 WV) sie AL gear rR A bee SUNT) I SAR eB oleh 82, 252 
fe SEE AES ORR OS ROO a Di ei Rh) at Ste ely Pa 111, 251 
REED PATS OE ee eA iM Tea, ei a ar 257 
cemple.” Burmese,» ae eens Mamie ots 5 scnctaneiaia ee ae 25 
SUEI CA CLAD Govan. Mitt oe nga ae eee 2.) ae 66, 186, 187 
dextoook-of Lheosophy, A. s4 deuce ot +s. 5 one ek eee 13, 14 
A AEIE KD tes schtliters eke fale ais cata een eMerer saci" a «i 9 ee eee er 118 
Theosophical knowledge 
Statement regarding by Master Kuthumi ........... 48 
Study of requisite to advancement ................. 62 
Theosophical Society, The 
Inner. SGDGOL OF 04).1 sis a ie Pan ene Seer ene 50, 59 
Chiter Societviint., saiccandsemaie. dah ys gee 52, 58, 115 
Founding and work of ............ 221, 222, 223, 931, 232 
Emblem of formed during Wesak Festival .......... 288 
RCORO DAY Fe nike gai ana te Da eke rie tl ae aes ee 48, 52 


bought Rent ee ie regi ae ps 309, 310, 311 


PAGE 
Mea Si Ze INAS Gs Ol, TNE con ee 5 ore ae Oe oe = Mineola bles aS 155 
Tibet, the home of three Masters ..........-seeeeeeeees 22 
Tolerance, Uniolamentet ans pupils soy. tales «aires ¢ oles 82 
Transfiguration of Christ, Symbology of.... 188, 189, 190, 196 
Drvmitveandyine: priangies, Phe oso ee. Lael de ate, nin eins 265-275 
RRPRTISD Se MEE TICIE A hah xls c\siain axe ionoin ete aielg wales atetyie eens 265-275 


Teaching of in Assyrian, Buddhistic, Christian, Dru- 
idic, Egyptian, Hindu, Kabalistic, Phoenician, 


Scandinavian and Zoroastrian religions...... 265, 266 
REPL VOe Ge PTE Saris cle Dettele ots core ec cllate bie seater 265, 266 
CULM TR ee ieee hoe seve fe cid etal sinte hte ae Palehe ees 266 
PISUOCUILALIICTARCUY (ae pe -visie siekices a's t's apes 266, 267 
DOSE OS TE YOU, yg RSE Ae GS OT ORRO RY Ba RM a PAE SO ph 296 
Tumbler, Overturning of by will-power ................. 105 
ReCanae en aeaIinGh CELGE T) wit saihis + amide che le ise a cbeimetie’s 203 
A MCPY ORIN UOOUECLOUD L Bitet pete cis nace ae drole vin oho cave ale ee 169, 170 
Unselfishness as the way to the Masters ........... 48, 49, 62 
eA IATL ee oa ees CA ae 8 aso deo ale eee ae een oe 118 
PEGE TRU cera err ne Ms cle 2. did ben ids! 4! iS re ale ate 118 
PeeeeVICAIINU EOLeNAMG Vs.) ces sacle wise se alee ede eh ee 241 
aeRO AU TOR Mots aa rs ike Pie Ania ach oweled taba aS 54, 117 
DEMISE CHUL ULM Mae scl sss xiete wala nie Wate tior erate ae 282-293 
READ IEs LOTINIAN I CRt og uk sw CNY tee Ea eae ai ate On ae 24 
MeTiO neta (DONATE ir. eke ec htiy sid Ga co ee via cea on 248 
MOVSICR ERD Tearance. OL 40. +o. ede dea eee eee 39 
rae LGN Me eeeP Ss ., oo Fa cho ce ssl chee Sides ees 251 
MOCHIEICH CHAS RECONOTCULEY (asic oe Los hue Mls acres ee 169, 171 
NS Reet MSE «ic SAG lcs Seat re 259, 261 
ROC ICH caine eens. sy salar nd ametoui nce trder tect 54, 117 
POGELO) LUC IUCN OP a Es.) we a eee oe os cena 56, 209 
UTS CBS a) yh eR Ae GRR nL Oe A are Re LA 279 
Bee MLMPE-EDITILE VOLE iz, hs suet tek Chote aati oe 250 
Mere Lhenvaster lho. ucu ue, sony ie wr al omun mr 48-68 
Wesak Festival 
PRELOPENCGL Ure Wt ee Aly tne ee gh I nd Vet 128 
EO MTAULINU SOle oe eek kf es Loe eta 282-293 
RBM UMN avinte oot he x eultidyag eM. in Cre Lu AI (oem ded 283, 284 
Re nicarlelandantGobr, Seal ua wce ls ven. mh ea 325 
PAO Dern Ut se SE cle eet srg tits ahaa tek ere eD 205 


UCU Ce eT 2) 10 RAS ay lO di An ie a a 5 
RECS EATS SAMAR esa i i el ae ego oR ee 83, 84, 252 


354 INDEX 


PAGE 

Wisdom jin the -rnangles, The, 2: Nae. sa setae skeen 276-320 

Witnesses, Astral, at Second Initiation .......... 177, 178, 179 
World-Teacher, The (see also Maitreya, Lord) 

Wit ktoad iat ris PSR Lage Capen. Yad cate ee ie 269 

Aadkiel, Meaning of name nei ipesscuaakivs occa oe Gane 241 

LOTORSLER, sk se TH iat ol Rear A ta a hay Nel le 279 


ans rey Ait 


oh bere Hel mM 
; Vina 


ay ais 





DATE DUE 


| 

af 
1 

& 4 

«4 3 =a 


4 
. 


¢ 
7" a 
€ 


AU 


PRINTEDINU S.A. 


GAYLORD 


0623 


Speer Library 


P< 
o 
o 
“n 
2 
a 
o 
o 
® 
= 


012 01015 


Princeton 


j 


1 











i 
ih 


isi 
i 





















































